Simply A Masterpiece

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Oberscharfuehrer Bruno Kttel, as the rank would suggest, was a member of the SS....then why is he wearing a Wehrmacht hat and uniform? And this is only the beginning of this fiasco of a movie. Can anyone who knows anything about the period imagine an SS officer and his cronies, both German and Lithuanian, holding what seems to be drinkee-winkies with Jews? Oskar Schindler spent a few days in jail because he gave an avuncular kiss to a Jewish woman. In regard to physical relations between "Aryans" and Jews, called Rassenschande (Race Shame), Kittel and cohorts would have face imprisonment or worse for what's whimsically portrayed in this film. Kittel may have played the saxophone but it was on the local radio station and not wish Jewish musicians and comedians.If there was ever a movie that deserved a "0", it's this one.

This is an emotionally tale and very decent drama about the terrifying existence in Vilna ghetto including suffering , grisly executions , theatrical happenings , starvation and other grisly events until a terrible ending . Based on Joseph Sobol's play ¨Ghetto¨ recounts the last days of the Vilna Ghetto Theatre company . German troops entered Vilnius on 26 June 1941, followed by units of the Einsatzgruppe or death squads . Germans rule over Vilna and close Jews at a ghetto . It is commanded by the twenty-two year old nasty officer Kittel (Sebastian Hulk) in charge of the ghetto in the capital of Lithuania . When he finds the gorgeous Hayyah (Erika Marozsan) taking some beans from the German army, he condemns her to death; but when he is informed that she was a previous successful singer, he decides to activate the old theater and promote spectacles . The Jew Chief of Police named Gens (Heino Ferch) uses the theater to save people and makes a sewing factory . Unlike in other ghettos, the resistance movement in the Vilna Ghetto was not run by ghetto officials . Jacob Gens, appointed head of the ghetto by the Nazis but originally chief of police, ostensibly cooperated with German officials in stopping armed struggle.This is a portentous drama about Jews suffering in the Lithuanian holocaust . Very good performances from main cast as Heino Ferch as Jew chief police who save as much lives as he can and Sebastian Hulk as sadistic Nazi who kills relentlessly and a gorgeous Erika Marozsan as Jew singer suffering the anger from villain commandant. Filmmaker Audrius Juzenas correctly directs a spellbinding portrait about the holocaust based on true facts .Adding more details over largely described on the movie referred 'the Vilna ghetto ', the events happened on the following manner : Vilna Ghetto was called "Yerushalayim of the Ghettos" because it was known for its intellectual and cultural spirit. Before the war, Vilnius had been known as "Yerushalayim d'Lita¨ (Yiddish: Jerusalem of Lithuania) for the same reason. The center of cultural life in the ghetto was the Mefitze Haskole Library which was called the "House of Culture". It contained a library holding 45,000 volumes . Jewish groups organized events commemorating Yiddish and Hebrew authors and put on plays in these languages . The Vilna Ghetto was well-known for its theatrical productions during World War II. Jacob Gens (Heino Ferch), the head of Jewish police and the ruler of the Vilna ghetto, was given the responsibility for the starting of this theatre.Performances included poetry by Jewish Authors, dramatizations of short stories, and new work by the young ghetto people. The Ghetto Theatre was a great source of revenue and had a calming effect on the public. A total of 111 performances had been given by January 10th, 1943 and a total of 34,804 tickets were sold. The theatre was renovated to accommodate a bigger audience and create a better-looking theatre for the public eye. This theatre permitted the non-Aryan race to display their power through plays and songs .The last theatrical production, The Flood, was produced by the Swedish dramatist Henning Berger and opened in the summer of 1943, in the last week of this Ghetto's existence. This play, set in an American saloon during a flood, featured a group of people who banded together during a time of danger and need. In early 1943, the Germans caught a member of the Communist underground who revealed some contacts under torture and the Judenrat, in response to German threats, tried to turn Yitzhak Wittenberg, the head of the FPO, over to the Gestapo. The FPO The Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye (United Partisan Organization) was able to rescue him after he was seized in the apartment of Jacob Gens in a fight with Jewish ghetto police. Gens brought in heavies, the leaders of the work brigades, and effectively turned the majority of the population against the resistance members, claiming they were provoking the Nazis and asking rhetorically whether it was worth sacrificing tens of thousands for the sake of one man. Ghetto prisoners assembled and demanded the FPO give Wittenberg up. Ultimately Wittenberg himself made the decision to submit to the Nazi demands. He was taken to Gestapo headquarters in Vilnius and was reportedly found dead in his cell the next morning. Most people believed he had committed suicide. The rumour had it that Gens had slipped him a cyanide pill in their final meeting.During roughly two years of its existence, starvation, disease, street executions, maltreatment and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps reduced the population of the ghetto from an estimated 40,000 to zero. Only several hundred people managed to survive, mostly by hiding in the forests surrounding the town, joining the Soviet partisans, or finding shelter among sympathetic locals.

A different and unusual take on the holocaust. "Ghetto" is almost a dark comedy-musical, if you had to put it into a category ( if such a category exists...) I don't think it's fair to compare it to "The Pianist" or "Schindler's List", because this film really does it's own thing. Not everyone's cup of tea, but then I wouldn't really consider this a mainstream film. There were elements which really brought Yiddish theater to mind, in a clumsily beautiful and poignant way. I was appropriately entertained, moved and depressed, so I enjoyed this movie very much, but again, not everyone would want a movie to elicit that combination of emotions. There were some very beautiful scenes, in terms of cinematography, and despite some distracting, less than natural lip-synching, I found the music really beautiful. This film is worth watching, as long as you do so with an open mind and an appreciation for originality.

I saw this film when I spent some time in Vilnius. Not long before I head spent some time in the genocide museum in the Lithuanian capital and I was fascinated by there history, especially during WWII. Since this movie was spoken in English, and everyone was talking about it I went to see it in one of the big theaters. It added to the experience to be in the city where the story took place, but regardless, it was very well done, it just seemed to be unsure whether it was a musical, play or war movie. That made it very original but also confusing at times. I see it as a lighthearted approach of something good during very bad times. Meaning that the tone of the movie switched often and took the audience of guard, which is a great thing, but it should have been done more subtle.I must add that the acting was superb, and my hat's off to Hülk, great performance!