Uprising [HD]

The Warsaw ghetto uprising as more than a moral victory
"Uprising" is a story of the Holocaust that really could not be told until NBC showed this two-part made-for-television movie in 2001. The story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising has been told before. In the 1978 mini-series "Holocaust," a major subplot had to do with Moses Weiss (Sam Wanamker), who becomes active in the uprising before being caught and shot by the Nazis at the end. Other movies dealing with the Holocaust have touched on this heroic but futile act of resistance against Hitler's army. This time, however, the point is to cast the uprising in terms that count for more than a moral victory.

When Poland fell to Nazi Germany the city's Jewish population was put into a walled in section of the city, thereby creating the ghetto. In the summer of 1942, after 300,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka the first reports of mass murder were heard in the Warsaw ghetto. Mordecai Anielewicz, then 23-years-old, and other young Jews formed the Zydowska Organizacja...

Brave effort
A full telling of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto is rare - normally it's a short segment of a longer tale about WWII or the Holocaust. So this DVD is a welome addition to historical drama and complaints about a lack of pace or action are unfair.

The Jews walled up in the ghetto did not have huge arsenals of weapons and the people who became heroes were ordinary citizens -hence the lack of a huge cast of big-name stars is welcome. And the performances coaxed from the likes of Cary Lewes, as the sickeningly anti-semitic film-maker Fritz Hippler are worthy of praise. And it was a revelation to see David (Friends) Schwimmer turning in such a heart-rendering turn as one of the heroes of the revolt (and he gets full marks for a realistic but not-over-the-top accent).

Where the drama falls short - as all are bound to - is the inability to reveal the true horror these human beings were forced to endure - and for how long. A 10-part mini-series mihght give some idea of scale of time...

Years later, but we must never forget...
I have seen a variety of Holocaust films, due to my interest in World War II, and I would have to say this is probably one of the best, if not the best, that I've ever seen.

Uprising brings to us everything that Schindler's List does: touching story, great cinematography, and good actors. However, instead of focusing on a middleman such as Schindler (German helping Jews), this film focuses on the Jews helping themselves.

The emotions were strongly carried through due to overall great performances from many actors: Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer, Donald Sutherland, and many more.

This is film of hope, love, and cherishing life while you have it, all while in the toughest of times. These people overcame enormous odds by standing up to the oppressive and barbarous reign of the Germans, and not unlike one of the German characters, we now have it on film. Moreover, it is a great film.

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