On October 14, 1943 about 150 inmates broke out in a desperate riot. There was some minor industrial activity linked to the war effort but the main work was the execution of inmates. Of the 600 inmates in the camp, roughly 300 escaped, although all but 50 - 70 were later re-captured and killed. Of the 300 prisoners who escaped, only approximately 50 survived to see the end of the war in 1945. As the survivors flee deeper into the forest, a voiceover narrator tells of the experiences and fates that befell some of the survivors whose accounts the film was based on.
But those who were its captives, the Jewish laborers that had been spared from the ovens, knew that they were on borrowed time and that their only hope was to escape. The ending is both shattering and uplifting. The movie gets a breathtaking and exciting getaway with a sensitive score by George Delerue. Arkin and Hauer soon work together among other prisoners to devise a way to escape, originally planning an escape that involved only a dozen men but they eventually decided it had to be the entire camp population of 600, or else the 600 people left there would most likely be slaughtered. It was dismantled, bulldozed under the earth, and planted over with trees to cover it up.
Sobibor along with Treblinka and Belzec , was evacuated in the fall of 1943. The film was well realized by Jack Gold developing compellingly the historical recreation of the escape from the Nazi Death Camp Sobibor. Of the 600 inmates in the camp, roughly 300 escaped, although most were later re-captured and killed. I,was on the edge of my seat all the way through,could hardly breath all through the film,did not take my eyes off the screen. .
This movie is in some parts shocking when, like Schindler's List and other Holocaust films, it shows naked women and children being led into the gas chambers and a woman being executed simply for bringing her baby into the camp. However, because the Germans would kill an equal number of others whenever a group attempted to escape, the captives knew that if ever an escape was tried, all 600 prisoners in the camp would have to be included. Even more so knowing the outcome of some of the lives. The main character of the movie is the Soviet-Jewish soldier Alexander Pechersky, who at that time was serving in the Red Army as a lieutenant. And how simply fitting a denouement on the end credits the result of the police investigation, give that policeman a medal. Their leader, Perchersky, and his men willingly join the revolt, their military skills proving invaluable.
And therein lies the story, with the film being based on a factual account of what then. However, because the Germans would kill an equal number of others whenever a group attempted to escape, the captives knew that if ever an escape was tried, all 600 prisoners in the camp would have to be included. On October 14, 1943, members of the camp's underground resistance succeeded in covertly killing eleven German officers and a number of Ukrainian guards. But those who were its captives, the Jewish laborers that had been spared from the ovens, knew that they were on borrowed time and that their only hope was to escape. In fact it has that real life documentary feel to the story. A new group of prisoners arrives, Russian Jews who were soldiers with the Soviet army. Victims were brought to the camp in unventilated transports , and all but a handful were gassed after arrival , the gas chambers could accommodate hundred prisoners at one time , most of their corpses were burned in open pits.
But, in just 3 weeks, Alexander was able to plan an international uprising of prisoners from Poland and Western Europe. The picture is based on real events , these are the followings : Sobibór , Chelmno , Belzec and Treblinka were four large death camps in the Lublin district of Poland transformed into extermination centers to implement the policy of genocide thought at the Wannsee Conference. Amazing to think it was done for television and not cinema. Reviewed by stargirlrk 10 This movie is fantastic, no doubt about it. Being interested in the holocaust from a young age,and having traveled through Poland in the early eighties I got this out of interest. However, nearly all were ultimately recaptured ; only about 60 people survived.
Of approximately 600 prisoners who attempted escaped in October 1943 , around 300 succeeded. In October 1943, he was captured by the Nazis and deported to the Sobibor concentration camp, where Jews were being exterminated in gas chambers. The escape forced the Nazis to close the death camp, dismantling it and planting a forest. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments. Sobibór was an extermination camp of killing center of Jews including children and located near the Bug River on the border of the German occupied eastern territories.
The historical recreation of the escape from the Nazi Death Camp Sobibor, where approximately one-quarter million Jews were executed. The film is based on a real story that happened in 1943 in the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Indeed, to have such a mass escape could only mean that the Ukrainian guards and Germain officers would have to be killed, which many of the Jews felt simply reduced themselves to no better than their captors. This uprising resulted in being the only successful one throughout the war, which led to the largest escape of prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp. But those who were its captives, the Jewish laborers that had been spared from the ovens, knew that they were on borrowed time and that their only hope was to escape. The film is full of suspense and based on a true story that happened at Sobibor, which was the biggest camp escape during the war. Most satisfying to have seen it before Rutger got semi-famous.
On the whole the acting is exceptional, and by that I mean one forgets the actor and sees only the person as real. For example, Perchersky makes it back to Soviet lines and rejoins the Red Army,. We see horrors , murders , massacres against the prisoners. . . . .
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