A poignant movie.

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2010)

This a beautiful movie. Why? Because it is well acted, well filmed, well written and well done. It's serious without being pretentious. It tells a story. It's about courage, loyalty, caring, and family. Horst Buchholz is wonderful. His performance as the doctor was powerful. What a great actor! Also, the movie avoids becoming an expose on the horrors of the concentration camp and instead manages to stick to the story about the family. Instead of moralizing on the injustices and ill-treatment suffered by the hero, the movie presents a story of sacrifice and spirit which remains strong even in the most dire of circumstances. The movie offers a glimpse of the concentration camp from a little boy's perspective. For the little boy, who is too young to understand the true nature, purpose and implications of the concentration camp, the camp is just a bad place. It's only years later that he truly appreciates what the camp was about and how his father's bravery saved his life.