Customer Reviews

Wall [VHS]

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

 

 

I don't understand the negative reviews. When this was released (early 80's) there were not many/any films made about the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Judging this film by today's standards is unfair. I disagree with the other reviewers. The acting is solid, the story is well-done and the scenery/set/costumes are very authentic. I like this version of the uprising simply because the story begins in 1940 when the ghetto was formed, the wall was built and the Nazi plans were not so clear. The viewer gets to see life in the ghetto through the eyes of the film's characters. The evolution of the Jewish response to the persecution is well-represented through the characters. You have every possible human response; disbelief, accomodation, denial, and finally resistance. Tom Conti plays the "everyman" and Lisa Eichorn the "everywoman". Both differ in their initial reactions but are forced (or choose) to resist. I like Tom Conti. He plays the "average Joe" very well. This average Joe is capable of rising to the occasion under severe adversity. Lisa has what it takes to be the reluctant resistant that eventually fights like a guerilla soldier.

The action scenes were also very authentic. There were no wooden rifles and catsup blood. The Jewish fighters mostly had pistols and Molotov cocktails as they did in the actual uprising. Later they captured some better weapons. A couple of converted T34's were squared-up to look like panzers and give the necessary flavor. The ghetto is perfect. By the end it is a bombed out inferno.

In the 80's this was well-made and is solid today. I like the Uprising series as well. Perhaps it is a more up-to-date production but it has its faults too. I would give it a 5 as well. No film could possible do the event perfect justice however.

This was a good dvd. Especially like the closed captioning as we are hard of hearing. How can we know if a dvd is closed captioned. I received one or two that were not closed captioned (The Execution and israel making of the state.

"The Wall" is a 1982 HBO movie that depicts the lives of Jewish residents in the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the starvation and tensions of lives under imprisonment, the horrors of deportations to the "East", and finally the Warsaw ghetto uprising before its' destruction.

All in all, this wasn't an altogether bad production though the production values are dated and not very authentic. The acting, especially by the lead, Tom Conti [as Dolek Benson, one of the resistance members] was credible. What lets this movie down is the plodding manner in which the plot unfolds. The actual uprising itself was allocated brief screen time, and most of the movie focused on the build-up to the uprising. What was particularly annoying to me was the repeated scenes of Nazis marching through the ghetto, chasing Jews to the transports for deportation - it was done so many times, that it lost its effectiveness. Another movie titled "Uprising" with Hank Azaria and Lee Lee Sobieski also dealt with the Warsaw ghetto uprising, and to me "Uprising" is a far superior production to "The Wall". From the beginning till the end, the focus was on the burgeoning resistance movement and their anti-Nazi activities, and at the same time, there were different scenes of Nazi brutality - the emptying of the Warsaw ghetto orphanage, the mass deportations, daily lives in the ghetto - everything was conveyed in a very authentic manner and made for riveting viewing experience. There was no let-up in suspense, and the plot moved along at a steady pace till the explosive climax.

In contrast, "The Wall" starts off in a tepid manner and just plods along, with the pace only picking up towards the end. I'd still recommend this to those who like watching movies on the Holocaust, but if you really want to watch a good movie on the Warsaw uprising by the Jews, then I'd highly recommend "Uprising" instead.

This movie was very boring and I don't feel it acurately captured the Warsaw uprising. A much better movie to view would be "Uprising" starring Leelee Sobieski, among others.

Hmmmm, I actually liked this movie. We watched in 7th grade. I was addicted to it. The part with the typewriter and the weird music rocks! The only thing I didn't like about it was the long, boring talking parts. I wanted to fall asleep during those parts. I wouldn't show this movie to little kids though. Something at the beginning really scared me.