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.
