BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

darmitage1990 I'm really pleased this angle has been addressed in film, rather than solely in literature. The Sonderkommando and Kapo perspective is too often overlooked and based on stereotype and it was interesting to have them as the focus. The role of the Germans and Nazis have been re-addressed more and more in films like 'Good' and 'The Reader' and have been thoroughly explored through literature. While the role of the Sonderkommando is rarely a focus of literature, due to the traditional 'black and white' 'good and evil' popular portrayal, perhaps the changing consideration of 'ordinary Germans' have given rise to the focus on this, which is interesting. After reading Borowski's work, I had hoped a film of this nature would have been more popular, as it definitely aids understanding of the event.The execution was good, I though it raised interesting messages behind the mindset of a sonderkommando, as well as could be done through the media of film. The acting was average, although Arquette was surprisingly convincing.What does annoy me about this film, and perhaps all recreations of this nature is the need for redemption and logical progression. The film groups together various historically accounts to generate a fictitious chronology of events, which complete alter the history. This is particularly dangerous given the claims given at the start that this is based on a true story. I can understand why they've done it, for character progression and dramatisation and it is frustrating. The redemption in this films comes with the prevailing of morality, rather than survival. As with all blockbusters, such as 'Schindler's List,' 'Life is Beautiful' 'Pianist' etc.... I feel this is giving a message, almost reason to the holocaust, which I think is dangerous. Perhaps my qualms lie more with the representation in film than the execution of this specific film...The link to Levi's work is clear, and it brings to light an important issue overlooked. It's executed well, and camera work is shocking and realistic. I would recommend watching this film, it is both enlightening and educational, if not a tad commercialised.

p_imdb-238-926380 OK I am 40minutes through this movie, then suddenly I switched off.The story telling has badly executed very poorly, you don't get what's up. Out of context dialogues of random people. Maybe it will make sense later in the film, but how should I care if I already rage within the first 40% of the movie.The visuals are very bad, too dark, shadows all over the place. Of course this has been done on purpose, but it totally fails. I constantly blinked because of the eye strain due to my efforts of recognizing something. Also, why does the camera shake, is this blair witch?Not worth watching except you are one of those people which already admire a movie just because it picks up cruel facts of history.

kaiser100 I had a hard time getting to sleep after watching The Grey Zone. It is the darkest film I have ever seen. It is a stark contrast to Schindler's List in the fact that it is focused on the experience of the great majority of the people who were sent to the death camps and died. Nobody helped them. It is also raw in its presentation of the gas chambers, crematoria and the Sonderkommandos, Jews who volunteered to do the dirty work of processing the people who arrived at the camps and then their dead bodies afterwards in exchange for a few more months of life.That takes nothing away from the extraordinary Schindler's List, as it is very important to show the deeds of people like Oskar Schindler. His story and the story of many others like him is also true. In my opinion watching both films makes for an effective portrayal of the Holocaust on film, and an exploration of the nature of evil and humanity.Although the Grey Zone is a bleak story of utter human depravity, the darkness is not total. In an extraordinary turn of events that actually happened in October 1944, the very people who at first abandoned their morality to keep themselves alive threw the Nazis' deal back in their faces and sacrificed themselves, taking a part of the Auschwitz death factory with them. Their actions suggest that even though it flickers, the eternal flame that makes us greater than what we may appear to be is always present within.

plutus1947 BEGIN SPOILER: The Grey Zone is based on the actual events in Auschwitz during WW2. Teams of Hungarian Jewish prisoners were forced to work in the crematoriums to dispose of the bodies of the Jewish victims of the Nazi regime during WW2.END SPOILER This film in its own way is as harrowing as Spielberg's Schindler's List, but concentrates on one group of prisoners and their captors.This film is just one more in an extremely long list of films which deals with the horrific events in German concentration camps during WW2.Although the film cannot be construed as the best film depicting the horrors of WW2 ever made, it is nevertheless a reminder of what went on in German occupied countries during those dark days from 1939 to 1945.It was well made and well acted and I for one was reminded of what the human race is actually capable of. I was particularly impressed with the performances of Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel. Although Keitel is not one of my favourite actors, he made the part his own and I could easily equate him with the man he was portraying, Eric Muhsfeldt.There may be some who feel that this type of film has outlived its usefulness and there is no need to continue to remind us of these black historical events.To anyone who does feel this way I would say that these reminders must never stop until there is peace throughout the world, Firstly because there are still many, many atrocities still occurring in this world which must be addressed, and those responsible must be brought to book and the free world must jointly do everything in their power to put an end to these regimes.Secondly, Although it is over 60 years since the horrors were first brought to the attention of the world, there are millions who were not born or know nothing or very little about how the human race can be, and still are, so cruel and evil against its fellow man.Anyone who watches The Grey Zone I feel will be moved at the plight of these Hungarians who were forced into doing what they had to do.Plutus1947