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"Escape from Sobibor"
Directed by Jack Gold
Zenith Productions
1987
reviewed July 2003
by RC666
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"Escape from Sobibor [EFS] (VHS/DVD, 1987) is a retelling of actual events that occurred in the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, detailing the largest escape from a Nazi camp in WWII. Regrettably EFS has made-for-TV production values (limited sets, lack of special effects or highly sophisticated artistic direction*, and built-in pauses for commercial breaks). This does not stop EFS from being possibly the best Holocaust film produced in the West.
Sobibor was the most secret Nazi death camp, made more secret by the fact that it was shut down after the uprising and made to look like a farm. Sobibor therefore was unable to become a human slaughterhouse on the scale of Birkenau [though the 250,000 deaths that occurred there are deplorable enough.] The film begins in the camp, and the first section of the film demonstrates some of the spontaneous, disorganized, and somewhat individualistic attempts at escape that end in failure and death. Also shown are acts of Nazi retribution, and routine brutality. EFS does not flinch at demonstrating the cruelty of the Capos (Jewish collaborators who acted as camp guards), most of them treacherous fiends. This is standard fare for Holocaust films, but the history portrayed in EFS turns in a different direction. Camp prisoner Leon Feldhendler leads a growing group of Jews who do not wish to nihilistically stand around and wait for death from the fascists. They maintain morale by living in the best conditions they can possibly scrape together. One boy, Shlomo, who has unwittingly delayed his execution by volunteering his skills to the Nazis, sees the camp victims marched into the gas chambers. He realizes that his family, with whom he came, is now dead. Shlomo exclaims that now he wants to kill and will kill. Leon explains to him that they all motivate themselves to survive not by vain hope but by the desire for revenge against their oppressors and escape from their miserable conditions. The escape plans are progressing slowly until a contingent of Jewish Red Army soldiers arrives from the Eastern front (the Nazis obviously had a 'special' policy for such POWs.) They are led by 1st Lt. Alexander "Sasha" Pechersky and march proudly into the camp. At first, Leon and Sasha distrust each other. They do however recognize the mutual benefits of co-operation: Leon and his organization know the layout and schedule of the camp and Sasha has trained, organized soldiers. Sasha and Leon struggle over escape plans. Should they build a tunnel? Such a plan was deemed unworkable. Suddenly there is a massive and critical brainstorm: Everyone - all 600-700 labourers/prisoners temporarily attached to the camp - must escape at once! This gives everyone a fair chance while giving the greatest chance of success. In addition, as demonstrated in one grisly scene not available in every version of the movie, the Nazis exact terrible retribution on the camp prisoners, killing many more prisoners in the camp than those who escaped. Only an escape of all prisoners will be moral and just. The escape plan has changed from scattered escapes to a tunnel to a full-fledged battle against the Nazis to liberate the entire camp. The majority of the inmates cannot be made aware of the escape plans until literally the final moment. In the meantime, a tight, highly organized cadre plans the deaths of the SS guards, one by one. Killing the SS guards will reduce Nazi resistance and supply the prisoners with weapons. The inmates take advantage of what they call the greed and punctuality of the Germans in order to lure them to their deaths. Indeed, the plan goes reasonably well up until the end when the Nazis realize what is happening. Sasha had planned to set off everyone for themselves in the eventuality of discovery, which is exactly what happened. The prisoners bash down gates in a mad rush out while the SS and Ukrainian guards try to mow down as many escaping prisoners as possible with machine guns and automatic weapons. Out of the 600-700 escapees from Sobibor, only about 50 actually survived past the end of the war. 300 were killed in the escape directly, and many were hunted down afterwards. The end of the film tells what happened to some of the survivors. Sasha and his contingent of Red Army soldiers fought their way back hundreds of kilometres through Nazi lines to rejoin the Soviet army, an act of heroism for which he was decorated. He was retired in the USSR at the time of the filming of the movie. Others went to their home countries, or later, Israel. Regrettably, 20 minutes have reportedly been cut out of the North American version of the film (trimming it down to 120 minutes instead of 140 minutes.) Most significantly, the cuts are said to include scenes adapted from the novel describing and demonstrating the willful brutality of the Ukrainian concentration camp guards towards Jews. These changes are in-line with attempts by some Ukrainians, Ukrainian-Americans, and cold-war minded Americans to whitewash Ukrainian history. Like many in Eastern Europe, Ukrainians are trying to portray themselves only as victims of Nazi aggression or of Stalin’s collectivization, rather than as the willing fascists and Nazi collaborators that many of them indeed were. Amerikkkan movies always go out of their way to fabricate stories of Ukranians oppressed by the USSR, and having the true story of how some Ukrainians could be dangerously worse than their alleged oppressors was not consistent with the U.S. propaganda line. The messages in EFS are very valuable. Civilians and soldiers, Russians and Poles, men and women, young and old all unite at great risk to free themselves where inaction means certain death. This film encourages unity, organization, and resistance, and discourages passivity. Millions of Jews (not to mention Slavs, Gypsies, etc…) went to their deaths submissively in the Nazi death camps. They were conditioned to submit to this tyranny by the collaboration of their own Jewish leaders and the collapse of their national governments (usually due to sabotage on the part of a pro-Nazi fifth column in the ranks of the army and government.) What is so astonishing about Sobibor is that, in the midst of a labour/death camp, the prisoners were able successfully to rise up, kill their oppressors, and escape in large numbers, thus dooming the camp. With communist leadership, the prisoners in Sobibor found that it is always possible to fight back against incredible odds and win. *Though in one memorable scene, the Nazis bring in a shipment of rich Jews from Holland. They are totally unaware of their impending slaughter and even tip their "baggage handlers." The Nazis later encourage the new Jews to dance and have fun. Even the regular concentration camp inmates are forced to dance. The later film, "The Pianist" included a similar scene and was lauded for its creative and artistic brilliance.
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