Geburtig

Starring:Peter Simonischek, Ruth Rieser, August Zirner, Katja WeitzenbÃ¶ck, Daniel Olbrychski, Hans-Michael Rehberg, Branko Samarovski, Samuel Fintzi, Otto Tausig, Marketa Modra, Lightning Bear, Wolfgang S. Zechmayer, Ibi Firestone, John Petschinger, Corinna Harfouch, Hermann Schmid, Theodor Sachs, Peter StrauÃŸ, Phoebe S. Simon, Erhardt Koren
Director: Robert Schindel, Lukas Stepanik
Studio: Lifesize Home Entert
Product Type: DVD

Description

Gebürtig tells the tale of Jewish emigrant composer Hermann Gebirtig and the German journalist Konrad Sachs, two thoroughly "modern" men, and their past as it catches up on them. While Gebirtig is being persuaded by the Viennese journalist Susanne Ressel to return to the town of his birth and give evidence in court against a former concentration camp supervisor, Sachs is forced to finally face the agonising reality that he is the son of a high ranking SS-Doctor.

Customer Reviews:

"There's no such thing as justice.".......2006-12-10

The German film "Geburtig" is based on a great idea. The film weaves together various story strands that all deal with the aftermath of the genocide conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. There's Jewish actor, Danny (August Zirner) who's hired to play a concentration camp inmate, Konrad Sachs (Daniel Olbrychski) whose father was an infamous SS doctor in Auschwitz and Susanne (Ruth Reiser) whose father survived a concentration camp and in his old age has identified an SS officer known as the Skull Cracker for his habit of smashing together the heads of two concentration camp inmates until their skulls cracked. There's a reliable witness, a composer (Peter Simonischek) who lives in New York, who stubbornly refuses to return to testify against the Skull Cracker in Vienna.

The execution of the film is problematic. It's just too ambitious and ponderous for its own good, and the story strands meander and lose focus. There's also a great deal of voice-over narration that offers explanations of the characters' feelings (always a bad sign). The film offers background into the lives of its characters and it's hard, at times, to see the relevance. While Danny's reactions to having to work inside a concentration camp are stunning, for example, the entire strand with Danny's romance with a doctor, is superfluous, and could be cut from the film with no ill effects as a result. The film's far more interesting strand concerns Konrad Sachs--a man whose life is contaminated with dreadful childhood memories of his father conducting dissections on live Jews. Sachs, a journalist, is tormented by guilt and visions of horrific experimentation. The film asks how on earth does one deal with that sort of past?

One extremely annoying thing about the film is the quality of its subtitles. Entire, relevant speeches are NOT translated. And then there are some subtitles that flash on the screen for a split second--just long enough for the viewer to have the impression of a white flash of something along the bottom of the screen. This problem with the subtitles is so abysmal that it really detracts from the film and its already unfocused plot. As a lover of foreign film, I'm used to the odd misspelling (and some can be amusing or even quaint), but this was really atrocious. Even the film's title "Geburtig" appears throughout the film in two versions ("Geburtig" and "Gebirtig") and the Skull Cracker's name was alternately spelled Pointer and Pointner. The film has its stunning moments, and certainly raises the question of survivor guilt, but unfortunately the film is weighed down with too much baggage and thoroughly rotten subtitles. Directed by Robert Schindel (based on his novel) and Lukas Stepanik, the film is in German with English subtitles--displacedhuman

Intriguing and suspenseful!.......2006-01-02

Geburtig (2002) a Jewish film is set in 1987 and based on an Austrian novel; it is intriguing, complicated and a suspenseful film. A trial is set in Austria for a known Nazi war criminal, the Skull Cracker. In the concentration camps of Ebensee, he banged two people's heads together till the skulls would crack.

THREE stories weave together about the haunts of Holocaust past, a composer, an actor, and a journalist.

One: A German composer, Hermann Geburtig who lives in NY vowed never to return to Austria and he is pursued by a Viennesse journalist to testify against a Nazi camp supervisor, the Skull Cracker. Amidst the intrigue and traumatizing, a romance occurs when the journalist finds Geburtig and falls for him.

Two: While production of an upcoming Holocaust movie is ongoing, Danny, an actor who will portray a prisoner is pained by the horror and death his parents received in a Nazi camp.

Three: German journalist Konrad Sachs, who is haunted and tormented by his demons of the past, is the son of a Nazi doctor who dissected people while still alive. Among Sachs tormenting experiences are episodes of blood running from his nose.

The film won as Best Foreign Film 2002 Academy Awards plus other winnings. Like some Halocaust films, this one doesn't go into too gory details, but the presence of horror in any Halocaust film always remains.

Subtitle problem
This is a fast moving film, plenty of dialogue that often the DVD subtitles move fast and occasionally, the words will be there one second and gone, no time to read it. The languages are German, Yiddish, and little bit of English with English subtitles. There is nudity. The film features many characters and it may get confusing. Don't watch it while sleepy....MzRizz

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