In
1943 the Warsaw Ghetto, created by the occupying Germans to
contain the Jewish population of the city, erupted in guerrilla
warfare against the Nazis. In Uprising, director
Jon Avnet provides a docudrama of the era, from prewar Warsaw
to the end of the underground movement. Originally a November
2001 television miniseries, the film was released theatrically
in Beverly Hills for a week during December 2001. Sprinkled
liberally with titles to demarcate the major events of the
occupation, we see the senseless brutality of the German soldiers
in trying to subdue some 500,000 Jews in the Ghetto. The provocations
include ordering a Jewish violinist to play on the street,
followed by a vicious beating, raiding a ballet school, and
forcing women to strip naked before they are cleared for work.
The roundup of children and older women for the death camp
at Trebilinka also plays a major role. Adam Czerniakow (played
by Donald Sutherland) is named the head of the Warsaw Jews
by the Nazis, but he commits suicide rather than signing the
order to commit his people to Trebilinka. Gradually, some
Jewish residents come to the conclusion that they will either
die with honor or as cattle. According to the film’s
tagline, "They did the one thing the Nazis never expected.
They fought back." Mordechai Anielewicz (played by Hank
Azaria) assumes a charismatic role in mobilizing resistance,
and among those who assist are Tosia Altman (played by Leelee
Sobieski) and Yitzhak Zuckerman (played by David Schwimmer).
By collecting weapons and making Molotov cocktails, the Jewish
Resistance manages to sabotage factories and ammunition dumps,
while killing a significant number of German troops. Indeed,
the resistance in 1943 staves off the German army longer than
the Polish army, which fell to the Nazis in less than a month
during September 1939. Major-General Jurgen Stroop (played
by Jon Voight) tries to mount an offensive to rid Warsaw of
all Jews by Himmler’s birthday, but he is unsuccessful
and ultimately relieved of his command. Much of the last minutes
of the film focuses on how the German army tries to hunt down
the last remaining resistance fighters, who continue to be
more clever. One important fact is that the resistance receives
no help from the Allies or the Polish underground. Titles
at the end indicate that General Stroop was found guilty of
war crimes, while several of the surviving Jews escaped Warsaw
and then channeled their determined spirit of resistance into
making important contributions to the new state of Israel.
At several times in the film a question -- "How can a
moral person can sustain a moral code in an immoral world?"
-- just as Jean-Jacques Rousseau once stated "To be sane
in a world of madman is itself a form of madness." As
a detailed account of how actual members of the Jewish Fighting
Organization resistance fought despite overwhelming odds,
while noting the failure of the Allies and Polish underground
to assist them, Uprising has been nominated
by the Political Film Society for an award as best film exposé
of 2001. MH
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