Escape From Sobibor, 1987

Exciting and sobering holocaust film. As a 1980s made-for-TV movie, it may not be as visually impressive or graphically violent as Schindler's List or The Pianist, but it still manages, in many ways, to be more powerful. In fact, I don't think any other film I've seen, made-for-TV or otherwise, has painted a more brutal and sadistic picture of the Nazis. That lunatic from the Saw movies has nothing on the guards stationed at Sobibor concentration camp. Strong performances from Arkin, Hauer and several other escapees also ensure that the audience sympathizes with their characters and make the German soldiers seem that much more inhuman. Arkin's character, in particular, comes off as a heroic figure. He's not a trained soldier or tactician, like Hauer's character, and he's suffered as much as anyone in the camp, but he refuses to wallow in despair and instead acts as a constant source of comfort and hope to the other prisoners who, thanks to him, eventually make an unprecendented stand against their Nazi captors. It's a very inspiring and harrowing story that makes a person grateful they weren't a member of the "Greatest Generation".

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