Tattooist of Auschwitz

[Robbored]

On Sky - I don’t often watch holocaust films or tv programmes. I find them far too harrowing but this programmes got rave reviews and I decided to see what it was like.

Much to my surprise the brutality and horror of these camps is seriously toned down to accommodate what is a true love story of two prisoners. Some of the German guards are portrayed as reasonable guys and the actors are obviously nowhere as skeletal as the real prisoners.

The guy playing the older Lale Sokolov relaying his story is Harvey Keital who is terrific. I had no idea who the actor was.

Well worth watching if you have Sky.

[The Gasbuster]

Yep, really good (just about to start ep3).

As above; watching along and thinking "I know this actor, but who the hell is it ?!"

Credits roll and it's only Harvey Keitel !

He has aged since I last saw him in anything (obviously), but some pretty good make up it would seem.

[Port Said Red]

If you have an interest in this sort of drama may I suggest the film The Zone of Interest, it's currently available on Amazon (free with Prime) it won the best International Film Oscar along with best sound. The significance of the best sound Oscar will become apparent when you watch it.

[italian dave]

10 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

If you have an interest in this sort of drama may I suggest the film The Zone of Interest, it's currently available on Amazon (free with Prime) it won the best International Film Oscar along with best sound. The significance of the best sound Oscar will become apparent when you watch it.

I’ve read and heard a lot about it, hoping to find time to watch it soon. It sounds amazing. It’s on Apple too (to rent). 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

5 hours ago, Robbored said:

On Sky - I don’t often watch holocaust films or tv programmes. I find them far too harrowing but this programmes got rave reviews and I decided to see what it was like.

Much to my surprise the brutality and horror of these camps is seriously toned down to accommodate what is a true love story of two prisoners. Some of the German guards are portrayed as reasonable guys and the actors are obviously nowhere as skeletal as the real prisoners.

The guy playing the older Lale Sokolov relaying his story is Harvey Keital who is terrific. I had no idea who the actor was.

Well worth watching if you have Sky.

Why do you think that seriously toning down the brutality and horror of the extermination camps is a plus point?  I appreciate that the truth is harrowing, but a soft focus version seems to serve no useful purpose.

[Robbored]

17 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Why do you think that seriously toning down the brutality and horror of the extermination camps is a plus point?  I appreciate that the truth is harrowing, but a soft focus version seems to serve no useful purpose.

It’s not written to display the appalling conditions of German concentration camps. It’s a true story written to show how two people fell in love whilst surviving in these death camps. The core is about love and doesn’t concentrate too much on the horror and brutality. However there are some examples such as Jews being shot randomly for absolutely no reason and women stripped naked and marched towards what they thought were showers - everyone knows that is was really gas chambers - just one example of toning down.

Schindlers List was a highly acclaimed film but I just couldn’t bring myself to ever see it - far too harrowing for me. 

[Gazred]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

If you have an interest in this sort of drama may I suggest the film The Zone of Interest, it's currently available on Amazon (free with Prime) it won the best International Film Oscar along with best sound. The significance of the best sound Oscar will become apparent when you watch it.

Yep, that's an excellent film.

Incredibly powerful yet not a lot happens. You see next to nothing of the camp but the subtle hints both visually and audibly tell the story.

Very clever and interesting film about a very delicate subject. Well worth your time.

[1960maaan]

While I enjoyed the series ( to a point) it was much milder than I expected, toned down so much as to make it almost like a TV movie . A few tear jerking moments and I thought the acting was good , but not quite as good as I expected. 
Annoyingly I haven't read the book even though it was on my list for a while. I read the Deaths Head chess club, which is brilliant and I may have to read this now but I imagine it could be a hard read

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

If you have an interest in this sort of drama may I suggest the film The Zone of Interest, it's currently available on Amazon (free with Prime) it won the best International Film Oscar along with best sound. The significance of the best sound Oscar will become apparent when you watch it.

I will look it out , cheers. 

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

It’s not written to display the appalling conditions of German concentration camps. It’s a true story written to show how two people fell in love whilst surviving in these death camps. The core is about love and doesn’t concentrate too much on the horror and brutality. However there are some examples such as Jews being shot randomly for absolutely no reason and women stripped naked and marched towards what they thought were showers - everyone knows that is was really gas chambers - just one example of toning down.

Schindlers List was a highly acclaimed film but I just couldn’t bring myself to ever see it - far too harrowing for me. 

The toning down for me takes the edge off of the central love story. They seemed to have it relatively easy, though I know that can't be true. Feels like it's gone through too many Hollywood filters . 

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

The toning down for me takes the edge off of the central love story. They seemed to have it relatively easy, though I know that can't be true. Feels like it's gone through too many Hollywood filters . 

I’d disagree with that. The drama could have included cruel and brutal scenes like in Schindler’s List but the toning down enabled the viewer to concentrate more on the love story and the bond between inmates than the horror which was everywhere. The drama showed glimpses of real life but they weren’t a distraction.

[CodeRed]

47 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

 

The toning down for me takes the edge off of the central love story. They seemed to have it relatively easy, though I know that can't be true. Feels like it's gone through too many Hollywood filters . 

I haven't seen it, I'm reminded that one of my sons went there ( Auschwitz )as part of a school A level history German trip. He said 50 17 ye old kids were laughing and joking on the 2 hour coach trip into Poland ...... .after the visit/tour they filed back onto the coach in total silence, not one spoke on the whole trip back, some of them were crying, a few threw up on the coach. 

I'm not sure you can water down the story to make it "Hollywood".

[1960maaan]

7 minutes ago, CodeRed said:

I haven't seen it, I'm reminded that one of my sons went there ( Auschwitz )as part of a school A level history German trip. He said 50 17 ye old kids were laughing and joking on the 2 hour coach trip into Poland ...... .after the visit/tour they filed back onto the coach in total silence, not one spoke on the whole trip back, some of them were crying, a few threw up on the coach. 

I'm not sure you can water down the story to make it "Hollywood".

I don't think I could do that trip. I used to get the Holocaust memorials on Twitter, the stories are truly heartbreaking. 

If you watch it you may understand what I mean .
It's a great story , but things are shown quickly or not in depth. We all know what went on, it's heart breaking , this is a love story and amazing they managed it but at times it seems too easy. 

I know there are problems transferring books to the screen , this almost works.  Harvey Kietel is brilliant throughout though.

[Robbored]

24 minutes ago, CodeRed said:

I haven't seen it, I'm reminded that one of my sons went there ( Auschwitz )as part of a school A level history German trip. He said 50 17 ye old kids were laughing and joking on the 2 hour coach trip into Poland ...... .after the visit/tour they filed back onto the coach in total silence, not one spoke on the whole trip back, some of them were crying, a few threw up on the coach. 

I'm not sure you can water down the story to make it "Hollywood".

Auschwitz is not a place that I’ve visited but I know two guys that have. One said that he noticed that there was no birdsong and he found the experience extremely upsetting.

The other chap was on a coach tour and when they arrived his wife refused to enter the camp so he went without her. He said the same thing - that there was no sound at all and that he experienced a deep feeling of sadness that took him ages to get over.

I daresay the coach was silent as they drove away.

[Offside]

I read the book a couple of years ago and am halfway through the series on Sky. It’s deeply harrowing. There’s another book (Cilka’s Journey) about one of the other characters by the same author that’s also an important read.

The brutality is beyond belief. 

[OneTeamInBristol]

16 hours ago, Robbored said:

Schindlers List was a highly acclaimed film but I just couldn’t bring myself to ever see it - far too harrowing for me. 

 

13 hours ago, Robbored said:

The drama could have included cruel and brutal scenes like in Schindler’s List

How would you know if you haven't ever seen it?

[Robbored]

3 hours ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

 

How would you know if you haven't ever seen it?

Seen too many clips on tv to know.

[westonred]

I can only watch 1 episode at a time too harrowing to binge watch.. I find it so hard to believe that this happened just 20 years before i was born and these barbaric things were happening

'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' is a harrowing film as well which actually left me speechless at the end

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

I read "Five Chimneys" by Olga Lengyel, when I was a kid. Harrowing read.

[Bob Turnip]

 

On the same subject matter, "Escape from Sobibor" by Richard Rashke, whilst incredibly educational and inspirational, is a very traumatic read.

[Robbored]

19 hours ago, westonred said:

I can only watch 1 episode at a time too harrowing to binge watch.. I find it so hard to believe that this happened just 20 years before i was born and these barbaric things were happening

'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' is a harrowing film as well which actually left me speechless at the end

I didn’t binge watch it but not because of the harrowing depiction of concentration camps but simply because of other time commitments.

At the end of the final episode there a short interview of Lale filmed two years before he passed in 2006.

[GrahamC]

On 06/05/2024 at 21:39, 1960maaan said:

I don't think I could do that trip. I used to get the Holocaust memorials on Twitter, the stories are truly heartbreaking. 

If you watch it you may understand what I mean .
It's a great story , but things are shown quickly or not in depth. We all know what went on, it's heart breaking , this is a love story and amazing they managed it but at times it seems too easy. 

I know there are problems transferring books to the screen , this almost works.  Harvey Kietel is brilliant throughout though.

Went back in 1998, horrible but so glad I did.

Completely subjective but something there will just break you, a mate who went before I had told me for him it was the pile of artificial limbs, because if you rationalise how small a percentage of the population has one, then you see them it shows the scale.

For me it was what looked like straw on the floor, the implication being that humans were cattle.

Just can’t watch stuff like this, far too sanitised & with some Hollywood star looking a bit thin, absolutely nothing like the reality.

 

 

[TDarwall]

3 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Went back in 1998, horrible but so glad I did.

Completely subjective but something there will just break you

 

 

Same, went in Jan about 4 years ago. It was about 3 foot deep in snow. A guide explained that one of the punishments was to make children stand outside barefoot overnight.

You can't remotely describe it as an enjoyable experience but I'm glad I went.  I wouldn't blame anyone for not going but a visit should be compulsory for anyone that even flirts with extreme nationalist/far right views.

[Dollymarie]

Have watched all the episodes now. Had to keep reminding myself it actually happened, and people were that cruel to each other. The stat at the end that struck me the most was when they said that 270,000 children were in the camps, but only 700 were liberated when the war ended. 

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

On 09/05/2024 at 12:51, GrahamC said:

Went back in 1998, horrible but so glad I did.

Completely subjective but something there will just break you, a mate who went before I had told me for him it was the pile of artificial limbs, because if you rationalise how small a percentage of the population has one, then you see them it shows the scale.

For me it was what looked like straw on the floor, the implication being that humans were cattle.

Just can’t watch stuff like this, far too sanitised & with some Hollywood star looking a bit thin, absolutely nothing like the reality.

 

 

And I bet a heck of a lot of those amputees had served in the German army in the Great War...and that was how they were repaid.