Friday, Feb. 19, 1999 | 11:24 a.m.
Synopsis: The first theatrical feature film release from Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation, "The Last Days" depicts the extraordinary stories of five Americans who are Hungarian Holocaust survivors. The film interweaves eyewitness accounts, pivotal historic footage and a powerful score from Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Dave: Prolific filmmaker Steven Spielberg has captured his fascination with World War II in several of features films: "1941," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Empire of the Sun," and his Academy Award-winning "Schindler's List." During the making of the latter film, the successful director/producer established Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, the goal of which is to catalog multimedia accounts and create an archival library of testimonial statements.
Along with his recent Oscar nomination for best picture and best director for yet another retelling of a WWII event in "Saving Private Ryan," the Academy also nominated "The Last Days" for best documentary. A deserved recognition, and an ideal winner.
Jeff: Five survivors, five personal accounts, detailed in-depth and unforgettable. I've seen so many specials about the Holocaust on the History Channel and on A&E, and as informative as they were, they lacked the personal and emotional connection to one of mankind's darkest moments.
"Schindler's List" came as close as fiction could get in detailing the atrocities of the Holocaust, but again it was dramatized. "The Last Days" takes you on a journey from beginning to end of five people who were part of "The Final Solution," Hungarian Jews who were taken to concentration camps with the names Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Nordhuasen.
Historical footage and personal interviews take us to brutal places, recounting daily events from the moment they arrived to their liberation by the Allies. You are there, watching, listening and remembering.
Dave: "Why did I survive? Why did God spare me?" survivor Bill Basch asks rhetorically, looking for some sort of resolution to the history that he lived. A question that has no answer yet deserves humanity's attention.
These surviving members would revisit the actual sites of the ordeals they miraculously lived through, and recall particular events that would randomly come to mind. Along with them are members of their family -- sons and daughters who would not have existed had their parents not survived. This factor punctuates their stories, their drama, their life experiences.
Jeff: Each survivor has their own story to tell, but the one that affected me most was that of grandmother Irene Zisblatt. She recalls the events of her life that was destroyed by anti-Semitism, and how her family was dragged from its home and relocated to the Munkacs Ghetto, where food was scarce and living conditions were atrocious.
Her family was later shipped to a region called Tokoy. They were huddled in cattle cars, standing room only, for seven days without the doors ever opening for air, food or water. Zisblatt's story of her mother sewing her family's diamonds into to the hem of her skirt is one of incredible determination.
The Nazis ordered the incoming Jews to turn over all personal property, but Zisblatt refused to reveal her mother's diamonds. As she was processed into the camp, she was told to strip and she was forced to hold on to the diamonds. She place the diamonds in her mouth, but the guards searched there, too. She had no choice but to swallow them. She retrieved them after she went to the bathroom, and she used this same process for years to hold on to the only items her mother had given her. Her mother was killed in the gas chambers immediately upon entering the camp -- she was considered too old. This is one of many stories Zisblatt shares in the film. So many stories, so little time.
Dave: One scene involves color stock footage of six Holocaust survivors walking away from the camera completely nude, exposing their skeletal frames. As the voice-over of U.S. Army Veteran Katsugo Miho describes how he "has never seen anything more horrible in (his) life than these survivors," you only begin to relate to the images the liberating American soldiers witnessed.
In another brief montage that will seem eternal to its audience, horrific footage exposes the aftermath of the several concentration camps already mentioned, all of which will certainly never leave your memory. Credit to director James Moll for orchestrating an informative and educational documentary that is both astonishing and unbelievable.
Jeff: The most shocking scene is when Renee Firestone confronts the Nazi doctor, a German concentration camp physician, who had experimented on her sister, and who kept evading her questions as to what he did to her. We witness Firestone shoving papers in his face, along with her desperate demands to know what happened to her sister. In the end, all she got was the doctor's response, "Yes, everything normal."
We're told later how Firestone lost her composure after the interview. Moll leaves no stone unturned and profiles the life of each survivor before and after the tragic events of the Holocaust, showing how each has woven their experiences into their lives as a painter, a congressman, an educator, and as parents. "The Last Days" is about survival and closure, and never letting the world forget.
MOVIE BUZZ
Barker's Back: Brit horrormeister Clive Barker, the twisted mind behind "Hellraiser" and "Candyman," is ready to scare audiences again with a new film. "American Horror" is an attempt to create a uniquely American horror epic in the vein of such classic European films as "Dracula" and "Frankenstein." The film will be set against the backdrop of the American railroad around 1866. Barker will write and direct "American Horror" for New Line Cinema.
Superman lives?: Well, the Man of Steel not only lives, but his life may be in the hands of the director of "Elizabeth." Shekhar Kapur, who helmed the critically acclaimed drama about Queen Elizabeth, was one of the names on a short list of candidates to take the reins of the long-delayed new Superman movie, "Superman Lives." Others on the list are said to be Simon West ("Con Air") and Steve Norrington ("Blade"). Nicolas Cage, unfortunately, is still slated to wear the big, red S.
D&D Deal: Dungeons & Dragons, the tremendously popular role-playing game, is finally headed for the big screen as a live-action film. This version of D&D tells the tale of an evil wizard who attempts to dethrone a new young empress. She is helped by a common thief and a young sorceress. The trio sets out to find an ancient artifact that will help them save the kingdom. No word yet on when the film will begin production, so hold on to your 16-sided die!
NAME THAT FLICK
"You better watch out, McPherson, or you'll end up in a psychiatric ward. I don't think they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse." Our mailbox was full again this week. It looks like we have some diehard fans out there of film noir (we certainly are). Our winner this week was Jack Estes, who correctly identified the quote spoken by Clifton Web in the Otto Preminger classic, "Laura." Way to go Jack! And, thanks to all of you who left such kind comments.
For this week -- and, since the 1999 Oscar race is officially under way -- we will take the next two months to dip into our grab bag of quotes from Oscar-related films. Put on your Academy Award thinking caps and tell us who said this and from what film: "I'm a superstitious man. And if some unlucky accident should befall my son, if my son is struck by a bolt of lighting, I will blame some of the people here." Does it sound familiar? If you think you know, call The Movie Guys Hotline at 225-9026, or e-mail us at [email protected]. Be sure to spell your name and leave your daytime phone number, and if you're the first correct caller/e-mailer, we will print your name right here in our column for the entire Las Vegas Valley to read. See you next week!
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