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Biography,Drama,War,Nazi
1989-04-22
N/A
157 min
A biographical portrayal of Simon Wiesenthal, famous Nazi Hunter. From his imprisonment in a Nazi Concentration Camp, the film follows his liberation and his rise to become one of the leading Nazi hunters in the world, bringing such criminals to justice as Adolf Eichmann and Klaus Barbee. (Written by Anthony Hughes)
Anyone with even a bare modicum of interest in the history of the 20th Century, and the holocaust, will be aware of Simon Wiesenthal. I watched this movie when it was first shown on television and was deeply touched by it and the story it tells. Ben Kingsley is, as always, absolutely magnificent. I have never understood why it has not (to my knowledge) been repeated or why I have been unable to find it on video or DVD. The film portrays Wiesenthals experiences in a matter-of-fact, non-sensationalised and yet sympathetic way and succeeds in giving a glimpse of the moral and ethical difficulties he faced in coming to terms with what was happening around him. The 'Sunflowers' sequence is especially poignant in this regard, as is his meeting with the mother of a dead SS man after the war. I recommend it highly. (Review by Jim Ferran)
