Search - Geburtig on DVD

Intriguing and suspenseful!

Rizzo | Denver, CO | 01/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Geburtig (2002) a Jewish film is set in 1987 and based on an Austrian novel; it is intriguing, complicated and a suspenseful film. A trial is set in Austria for a known Nazi war criminal, the Skull Cracker. In the concentration camps of Ebensee, he banged two people's heads together till the skulls would crack.

THREE stories weave together about the haunts of Holocaust past, a composer, an actor, and a journalist.

One: A German composer, Hermann Geburtig who lives in NY vowed never to return to Austria and he is pursued by a Viennesse journalist to testify against a Nazi camp supervisor, the Skull Cracker. Amidst the intrigue and traumatizing, a romance occurs when the journalist finds Geburtig and falls for him.

Two: While production of an upcoming Holocaust movie is ongoing, Danny, an actor who will portray a prisoner is pained by the horror and death his parents received in a Nazi camp.

Three: German journalist Konrad Sachs, who is haunted and tormented by his demons of the past, is the son of a Nazi doctor who dissected people while still alive. Among Sachs tormenting experiences are episodes of blood running from his nose.

The film won as Best Foreign Film 2002 Academy Awards plus other winnings. Like some Halocaust films, this one doesn't go into too gory details, but the presence of horror in any Halocaust film always remains.

Subtitle problem
This is a fast moving film, plenty of dialogue that often the DVD subtitles move fast and occasionally, the words will be there one second and gone, no time to read it. The languages are German, Yiddish, and little bit of English with English subtitles. There is nudity. The film features many characters and it may get confusing. Don't watch it while sleepy....Rizzo
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