Well produced, but...

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2016)

I saw this movie when it first came out. On first blush, it is a good film. The cinematography is stylish and the performances are good. The use of black and white goes a long way to transporting you to the days of the second world war.
However, the film is neither perfect nor the masterpiece some reviewers will have you believe. At its core, it is a propaganda film-- written, produced and directed by Jewish people as a testament of martyrdom.
While I am not discounting the tragedies that befell those who died in WWII, it must be remembered that this is a one-sided version of the events. Little or no time is wasted pointing out that the Jews had greatly aggravated their German hosts by taking over the banks and media (as they have more recently done in the United States), or that they were in the process of taking over entire districts and transforming the nation's Christian culture into a Yiddish one.
The film neglects to mention that they were given ample time to leave the country and were warned there would be trouble if they didn't. Again, not that any of this justifies what followed, only that this film presents a slanted view carefully designed to elicit sympathy and gloss over the aggravating behaviors. So it is, in fact, propaganda.
The film launched the career of Liam Neeson, who in 1993 seemed a good candidate for leading man roles, if he had lost the big belly and done some push-ups. He never did and as a result, spent the next 25 years doing character work.