Your impression of this film will be greatly influenced by the version you watched. I watched 374 minute mini-series, as the short version (145 minutes) is not to be found. So my first impression is this film is way, way, way too long!
More so this film feels like a 1983 MFTV film. It has the obligatory star (Michael York) who we all like and the supporting cast of unknowns. And like most MFTV films it is pretty much start to finish bad acting (overdramatic) and bad directing. It is after all 1983! Yet there is merit to this film. First off it tells a fascinating and heroic tale of a holocaust survivor. It is a story of perseverance and prosperity under the worst conditions.
Specifically it tells the story of Martin Grey (AKA Mieczysław Grajewski) a Polish Jew that was sent to a Nazis Death Camp (Treblinka) ... escaped that camp ... joined The Russian or Red Army ... became an NKVD Lieutenant searching for Nazis in Poland and then participated in the Battle of Berlin and fall of the Nazis empire? Not many can tell a similar story.
Secondly the film was ambitious with great sets, scenes, props and location work.
This film deserves to be released on DVD here in the USA as it is a story that should be remembered. Yes it will need to be edited down to about 4.5 hours and it will need to be cleaned up in many places but this film is deserves to be remembered. Martin Gray's story taken at face value (he has detractors) is most compelling.
6/10
More so this film feels like a 1983 MFTV film. It has the obligatory star (Michael York) who we all like and the supporting cast of unknowns. And like most MFTV films it is pretty much start to finish bad acting (overdramatic) and bad directing. It is after all 1983! Yet there is merit to this film. First off it tells a fascinating and heroic tale of a holocaust survivor. It is a story of perseverance and prosperity under the worst conditions.
Specifically it tells the story of Martin Grey (AKA Mieczysław Grajewski) a Polish Jew that was sent to a Nazis Death Camp (Treblinka) ... escaped that camp ... joined The Russian or Red Army ... became an NKVD Lieutenant searching for Nazis in Poland and then participated in the Battle of Berlin and fall of the Nazis empire? Not many can tell a similar story.
Secondly the film was ambitious with great sets, scenes, props and location work.
This film deserves to be released on DVD here in the USA as it is a story that should be remembered. Yes it will need to be edited down to about 4.5 hours and it will need to be cleaned up in many places but this film is deserves to be remembered. Martin Gray's story taken at face value (he has detractors) is most compelling.
6/10