Customer Reviews

Hidden In Silence - Based on a True Story [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, maybe no one will read this review, seeming as the movie is not even available at amazon, but I hope someone reads it and is inspired to watch the movie. It is truly a treat.

What would you do if you were only 16 or 17 and had no parents around to take care of you during the bloody days of WWII? What if the Gestapo came to your door demanding that you leave your home in one hour and find somewhere else to live? It would be a difficult demand.
Especially if you had 13 Jews hidden in your attic.

Hidden in Silence is the true story of Stephania Pordgorska, a Catholic Polish teenager who had to decide wether to sit back and let Hitler's soldiers "liquidate" the Jews in her city or wether to do something about it.
She did something about it. And saved 13 lives which included men, women, and children. As a historian, I may be tempted to look at that and say, what is 13 against 6 million who died? But that would be missing the point. The point is, Stephania (called Fusia in the movie) did what she could. She did as much as was in her power. And yes, 13 may not seem like a large number,but to the 13 people she saved, it was everything. I love this story because it is true. Because, although Hollywood always plays with the facts a little, they really did do a comparitively excellent job with accuracy in this movie (I have reasearched the story). They didn't "Spice up" the story. It didn't need it. I love it because Stephania didn't make excuses for not doing anything. She could have thought "What can I do? I'm just a kid." But she didn't.
And that is why you must see this amazing story.

Kellie Martin shines in this fine adaptation of the story of the young Catholic Polish teenager who put her life on the line to save the Jews in her country. Faced with incredible odds, she trusted God to deliver them, and He answered her prayers.

The ensemble cast is magnificent, and what was really nice about the film was the fact that it was not very explicit in the violence against the Jews. You saw a few minor scenes, but it wasn't the point of the movie, anyway. If you want really explicit scenes, there's always Schinder's List, but that was a different story.

This is a really nice teaching tool for your older children, and provides a launching pad for a dialogue on the Holocaust.

Highly recommended!!!

Hidden In Silence - ( Taken From The Back Of The BoxCover )

It's Wartime Poland , 1942. Following A Brutal Battle Against Russian Troops , The Nazis Emerge victorious and the town Of Przemsyl is now firmly in it's grip. Fusia ( Played By Kellie Martin From - E.R. - " Christy" - "Life Goes On - ) Is forced to take on the role of saviour when the Diamants ( Played By Marion Ross - Happy Days Mom ) , Her Jewish Adoptive Family , Are Captured By The Nazis .Fusia Undertakes the daring act of smuggling the Diamants' Son Out Of Nazi Confinement & hiding them in her apartment attic. Word Spreads of this Safe Haven , & Fusia Is Faced With the choice of turning away desperate people Or Increase The Risk Of being Caught By The Gestapo .

This Movie Is Based On A True Story , & ALL The Actors Do A Wonderful Job !!

If You Love This Video , I Highly Recommend Another True Story Vhs - A Woman At War - Acted By Martha Plimpton & Eric Stolz
TRUE STORY Of A Jewish Woman Who Saves Herself & Infiltrates The Gestapo ( By Using Fake Gentile Papers ) To Save Herself & Her Fellow Jewish People . While She Commits Sabotages , Joins The Resistance Against The Evil Nazis

as one reviewer said. It is a good history film that should be shown to many generations. Kellie Marin does a fine job of portraying the teenage girl who must raise her little sister on her own,plus take in 13 Jews which she manages to hide in her attic. The acting and writing are superb. I have one complaint though, I hated the lighting in the film...it was so dark and it made the quality look cheap, like a low budget film. Other that that, it is good and I appreciated the producers not allowing a ton of violence to be shown. It is not necessary; Hearing about the war was ugly enough. Since Schindlers' List isn't exactly appropraite for young children, this one makes a nice alternative. (They won't have nightmares for months later.)
P.S. Hey Kellie Martin fans, I heard on a Down Syndrom's website that LGO is going to be released this summer on dvd! I cannot wait to purchase it! If you have never seen it, I hope you will check it out this summer, you will not regret it. It changed my life.

I love this movie! Kellie Martin and her Jewish foster family are terrific. The love that they show for each other is awesome. But please get this on DVD! The VHS copy I have makes buzzing sounds.

Kellie Martin is a remarkable actress and I can't believe that this movie isn't on DVD and many other movies that this marvelous actress has made! I think it's about time that this movie was made availabe for DVD and her other movies

I have loved this movie since it first aired and I have the VHS. The problem is that I haven't owned a VCR in years! If you still have a VCR I highly recommend buying the VHS because, unfortunately, it isn't (to the best of my knowledge) aired on TV any longer. Hopefully, it will someday be released on DVD.

The setting of this 90-minute VHS (now also on DVD) is Przemysl, eastern Poland, during WWII. First come the Russians, then the Germans, and finally the Russians again. Based on a true story, a teenaged Polish girl rescues many Jews by hiding them in a large house.

It is obvious that professionals did not make this film, and that it was not made by Hollywood. Granted that some of the visual effects are primitive, and that there are misconceptions about the war and occupation. What it lacks in Hollywood pyrotechnics, and other shortcomings, it more than makes up in content. It is a moving story of death-defying heroism, as well as the power of faith and prayer.

Poland in conquered in 1939, and Russians rule Przemysl. Nazi Germany attacks its erstwhile Soviet ally, and rules over Przemysl from mid-1941 to mid-1944. The teenage Polish girl "Fusia" (not the real name of the actual Polish girl who engaged in these heroics) loses her parents, who are deported to Nazi Germany for forced labor. She must care for herself and her little sister. Soon she will be caring for far more.

The Germans humiliate the Jews, destroy their shops, and shoot some of them. Soon they will do far more. They lock up the Jews in a ghetto. Fusia defies the law by smuggling food into the ghetto. Then the Germans start shipping the Jews out to "labor camps". Some of the Jews figure exactly what the Germans actually have in mind, and beg to stay with Fusia. One of them shows up, all bloody, and tells of how he had jumped out of the train. She accepts more and more fugitive Jews in her house.

The situation in which the young Fusia has to deal with is onerous. She gets a job, whose boss is a Volksdeutsche, in order to earn enough money to feed the fugitive Jews. She cannot allow a guy interested in her to walk her home, or have any semblance of a normal life otherwise. Neighbors notice more and more people going to her home. Someone comments that the food that her little sister is carrying home is "quite a lot for two sisters." However, no one denounces her.

During the German occupation of Poland, some Jews actually gave up, left their hiding places, and turned themselves over to the Germans--causing not only their deaths but also the deaths of other hidden Jews and their Polish benefactors. Fusia has to deal with a hysterical woman who ran out of the hiding place, and wanted to do the same.

For quite a while, things seem to be working out. There are the usual frictions between confined people, and Fusia is outraged by the conduct of some of the Jews--conduct which can easily lead to the German discovery of the hiding place, and certain death to Fusia, her sister, and all the Jews. Then, very unexpectedly, the Germans want to requisition the big house for themselves, and want it almost immediately. Fusia prays, and then...

This is a great movie. I totally enjoyed It. Great Story. Kellie Martin Very good in it .
Highly recommend it.My only dissapiointment is that it is not available on DVD. COME ON Amazon. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
bring it out on DVD already!!!

When can we have this excellent movie in DVD?
I do mot understand why this movie is not in DVD, as this is a an old movie, I guess it is just 2002.
Please try to get it in DVD
Thanks
Nelson Calcano