10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A British Woman within the Third Reich, May 6, 2002
This review is from: Christabel [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The story of Christabel Bielenberg -- a British woman, married to a German official, who lived in Germany throughout the Second World War -- offers a unique, factual perspective on the rise of fascism within Germany and its daily attrition of human values and dignity. The story is compelling -- whatever minor flaws may have arisen in transfering it to the screen are relatively trivial. Both in Bielenberg's book ("The Past Is Myself") and in the video, the eerie, unexpected arrival of a Latvian SS officer in Bielenberg's train compartment while she is asleep and his complulsion to recount his own ghastly history is chilling and memorable, and but one of a series of vignettes from within that give greater insight into the period. The book and video were as valuable in developing an understanding of these aspects of World War II as Vera Brittain's memoir, "Testament of Youth" was in conveying a similar understanding of personal tragedy during the First World War. Very highly recommended.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing and Important History., March 6, 2003
I am a direct decendant of Peter and Christabel Bielenberg and I was absolutely facinated when I watched this video. I beleive it was a almost perfect portrail of Christabel and her experiances as a German in the war. I also think that if you had not read the book "I once was a German" by Christabel Bielenberg you would have been lost several times in the film. But overall it was a great experiance.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent WWII film shows impact on civilians, October 18, 2009
CHRISTABEL (TV-UK-1988) - Elizabeth Hurley, Stephen Dillane
Uniformly excellent, thought-provoking BBC-TV movie based on Christabel Burton Bielenberg's autobiography chronicles her marriage just prior to WWII to a German national and relocation to first Berlin and then a home in the Black Forest.
In a study of contrasts and just one stark scene of many, a friend of English-born Christabel (a niece of two Lords) and her husband Peter has been convicted in a failed 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. As he hangs just two feet off the floor, conscious and slowly suffocating from a piano wire garrotte, there's a shift to a children's church choir singing "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" as Christabel looks on.
Several Allied carpet bomb raids are given a civilian view, as terrified Berliners huddle together -sometimes unprotected- while clusters of eight explosive devices fall. "Christabel" is one of the most effective films in portraying such horrors. Surviving losers in war must go on with their lives despite poverty, hunger, homelessness and widespead destruction. Here, we expereince that reality also.
This remarkable motion picture eschews politics to concentrate on the lives of PEOPLE, specifically non-combatants, often the most fragile and first to be lost during all-out war.
As of 10/09, the uncut version of "Christabel" was only available on DVD in MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT's
BOX OFFICE GOLD 50 Movie Pack.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
