Uprising is a 2001 war/drama television miniseries about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman. This miniseries was first aired on the NBC television network over two consecutive nights in November 2001.
Uprising | |
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DVD cover | |
Written by | Jon Avnet Paul Brickman |
Directed by | Jon Avnet |
Starring | Leelee Sobieski Hank Azaria David Schwimmer Jon Voight Donald Sutherland |
Theme music composer | Maurice Jarre |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Jon Avnet Jordan Kerner |
Cinematography | Denis Lenoir |
Editor(s) | Sabrina Plisco |
Running time | 151 minutes |
Distributor | NBC |
Release | |
Original release | November 4, 2001 |
Screenplay
On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland and after which the regulation was promulgated that all Polish Jews should move to the newly created Warsaw Ghetto.
As in all the ghettos, a Judenrat was appointed and was responsible for the administration of the ghetto. The film tells the moral dilemmas faced by Adam Czerniaków (Donald Sutherland), head of the Judenrat in the Warsaw Ghetto, who was ordered to carry out orders of the German authorities, including sending Jews to the Treblinka Concentration Camp.
A group of Polish Jews decide to rebel against the Germans and not to lend a hand to the murder of their brethren. They begin to organize their people in order to protect the honor of the Jewish people, but Czerniaków as the leader of the Judenrat objects to this activity, fearing violent German retaliation against the Jews in the ghetto. By the close of 1942, people living in the ghetto realize they are doomed as the deportations to Treblinka began. The rudiments of resistance are planned by Mordechai Anielewicz (Hank Azaria) together with Yitzhak Zuckerman (David Schwimmer) and laid the foundation for the Jewish Combat Organization, Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB).
The film illustrates the moral dilemmas of members of the Jewish Combat Organization during the preparations for the revolt: "How to remain moral, in an immoral society?"
On January 18, 1943, when the Nazis again hold raids in the ghetto, they encounter resistance from the Jews, for the first time. To their own surprise, they manage to stop the Nazi raids into the ghetto. When the Germans return to the ghetto on 18 April 1943, the uprising in the ghetto breaks out. In the intervening time, many of the ghetto residents construct hidden shelters or bunkers in the basements and cellars of the buildings, often with tunnels leading to other buildings. The handful of fighters who have weapons take to these shelters, giving the uprising the advantage of defensive positions.
The fighters hold out for more than a month. In the more than three hours mini-series, we see a realistic and docu-like representation of what happened at the Warsaw ghetto.
- LeeLee Sobieski as Tosia Altman
- Hank Azaria as Mordechai Anielewicz
- David Schwimmer as Yitzhak "Antek" Zuckerman
- Jon Voight as Maj. Gen. Jürgen Stroop
- Donald Sutherland as Adam Czerniaków
- Stephen Moyer as Simcha "Kazik" Rotem
- Sadie Frost as Zivia Lubetkin
- Radha Mitchell as Mira Fuchrer
- Mili Avital as Devorah Baron
- Eric Lively as Arie Wilner
- Alexandra Holden as Frania Beatus
- John Ales as Marek Edelman
- Andy Nyman as Calel Wasser
- Nora Brickman as Clara Linder
- Jesper Christensen as Gen. Friedrich Krüger
- Cary Elwes as Dr. Fritz Hippler
- Palle Granditsky as Dr. Janusz Korczak
- Hannah Hetzer as Girl in Trench
The movie was filmed in multiple locations, including Bratislava, Slovakia and Innsbruck in Tyrol, Austria.
The miniseries's soundtrack was the last film score composed by Maurice Jarre, and prominently features the work of Max Bruch, including his Violin Concerto No. 1 during the opening sequence.
The French title for the film is 1943, l'ultime révolte. The German title for the film is Uprising: Der Aufstand. The Polish title for the film is Powstanie.
The film has a score of 7.4 out of 10 on IMdb, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Controversy
The film aroused controversy in Poland due to historical shortcomings and the way in which the attitude of Polish people to the Holocaust was shown. Most of the people of Polish nationality appearing in the film are depicted as anti-Semites who look indifferently or approving of the extermination of Jews. The film omits the fact that the Poles were also repressed and sentenced to extermination by the Nazis. In contrast to the occupied countries of western Europe, Poles were threatened to be executed on the spot, instead of being sent to prison for helping the Jews.
In 2002, the film received the following awards:
- Primetime Emmy Award for Best Stunt Coordination category
- American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Mini-Series/Pilot (Network)
- Christopher Award for Television & Cable
- Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Television - Dialogue & ADR, Long Form
- Political Film Society Awards for Exposé
- Mila 18
- List of Holocaust films
- Vladka Meed