More Past Events:

Imaginary Witnesses: Hollywood and European Directors Focus on the Holocaust

jewishfilm.2003 - jewishfilm.2004 - Margarethe von Trotta - ANDRZEJ WAJDA

Providence Rhode Island Film Festival


"One of the must-sees of the last millennium
and this one as well!"
- Andrew Saris, New York Observer

The Sorrow and the Pity

Boston Premier

"This incredibly ambitious documentary about cowardice and bravery in Clermont-Ferrand during the Second World War comes in at just over four hours. The true measure of the success of this stunning film is that it doesn't feel like four hours". - LA Times

National Center for Jewish Film, Museum of Fine Arts and Milestone films premieres film unavailable for 15 Years.

Director: Marcel Ophuls.
1971. B&W. France/ Germany/Switzerland. 260 min. English Subtitles.


From the moment it was first released at a tiny Left Bank theater in Paris, this epic account of France under the occupation of the Nazi regime during World War II has been acclaimed as one of the most moving and influential films of all time. Originally refused by French TV, the film garnered international success and acclaim - including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary and a recurring homage in Woody Allen's Annie Hall - while shattering the myth of an undivided and universally resistant France under the Vichy government. Ophuls interviewed the residents of Clermont-Ferrand who remembered the time and would speak of it, as well as French, German, and British government officials, writers, farmers, artists, and German veterans. Here, in their own words, is the story of how ordinary citizens and leaders alike really behaved, and the words they used to rationalize it to themselves and others. The result is a staggeringly clear portrait of how real people conducted themselves under the most extreme of circumstances. Ophuls constantly invites us to put ourselves in the position of these witnesses: what would we have done in the same circumstances? A triumph of humanist filmmaking, The Sorrow and the Pity leaves us with a great awareness of the power and responsibility that each of us possess. By turns gripping, appalling, and exhilarating, is one of the most valuable achievements in the history of cinema. Unavailable in any format for more than 15 years, this new version features complete subtitles for the very first time.

"The fastest four and a half hours in the history of cinema."
- The New York Time

"I shouldn't have to say more; your copy of The Nation should now be on the floor, and you should be heading toward the nearest theater showing the film."
- Stuart Klawans, The Nation


National Center for Jewish Film, the premier archive of Jewish film, holds some of the original negative materials of THE SORROW AND THE PITY.

Part One
Part Two

Sunday
Sept. 24
5:30PM

Sunday
Sept. 24
7:40 PM



Tickets can be purchased in advance at The MFA box office 10 am to 4:30 pm daily, with evening hours Wed- Fri until 8:30 pm Call 617 369 3770


Related Links:

LA TIMES Review by
Kenneth Turan


Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Milestone Films

 

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The Sorrow and the Pity
premieres at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Sept. 24, 2002