Escape from Sobibor

• Director: Jack Gold
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: War
• Movie Type: War Drama, POW Drama
• Themes: Crimes Against Humanity
• Release Year: 1987
• Country: UK/US
• Run Time: 120 minutes

Plot

During WWII, Sobibor was a notorious Nazi death camp. This gripping, fact-based drama chronicles the courage of an inmate who managed the largest escape from such a place. Thanks to him, over 300 prisoners were freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Review

This 1987 TV miniseries tells the true story of imprisoned Jews who devise and execute an elaborate escape plan. The production is gripping throughout. The setting is a Nazi extermination camp in a forest near the Polish village of Sobibór. There, 250,000 Jews, mostly from Poland and Russia, died in five gas chambers during the camp's operation between May 1942 and October 1943. The story engrosses the audience the moment the principal characters arrive at the camp and suffer brutal treatment by SS and Ukrainian guards. Only captives with useful skills are spared; the rest proceed to the gas chambers. In time, the traumatized prisoners, led by Leon Feldhendler (Alan Arkin), decide to escape -- but how? Then, Russian soldiers under the command of Alexander Percherski (Rutger Hauer) arrive as prisoners, throw in with Feldhendler, and provide the technical and military know-how to hatch an escape plan. Arkin and Hauer both perform brilliantly as co-leaders of the uprising, the largest and most successful of its kind in World War II. Simon Gregor as Shlomo Szmajzner also deserves high praise for his portrayal of a callow boy who learns how to cozen his Nazi captors and eventually kill them. The suspense builds gradually. Then the film explodes with action. Knives, axes, and guns give the Nazis their due as communication lines are cut and prisoners run hell-bent for freedom. Escape From Sobibór is one of the best escape films made about World War II. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Cast

Wolfgang Bathke - Sgt. Hurst; Hartmut Becker - Sgt. Wagner; Hugo Bower - Sgt Beckmann; Henning Gissel - Sgt. Fallaster; Klaus Grunberg - Sgt. Bauer; Robert Gwilym - Chaim Engel; Rutger Hauer - Lt. "Sasha" Pechersky; Peter Jonfield - Kapo Sturm; Joanna Pacula - Luka; Jack Shepherd - Itzhak Lichtman; Henry Stolow - Lt. Niemann; Sara Sugarman - Naomi; Emil Wolk - Samuel; Alan Arkin - Leon Feldhendler; Kurt Raab - Sgt. Frenzel; Simon Gregor - Stanislaw "Shlomo" Szmajzner; Ned Vukovic - Morris; Mihailo "Misa" Janketic - Kapo Berliner; David Miller - Mundek; Ullrich Haupt, Jr. - Sgt. Wolf

Credit

Priscilla John - Casting, Howard Alston - Co-producer, Doreen Watkinson - Costume Designer, Jack Gold - Director, Keith Palmer - Editor, Martin Starger - Executive Producer, Georges Delerue - Composer (Music Score), Radmila Ivatovic - Makeup, Allan Starski - Production Designer, Ernest Vincze - Cinematographer, Reginald Rose - Screenwriter, Richard Rashke - Book Author

Similar Movies

Era Notte a Roma; Grand Illusion; The Great Escape; King Rat; A Man Escaped; Stalag 17; Von Ryan's Express; Eroica; Escape from Colditz; As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me; The Blockhouse

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