1. “Cast A Giant Shadow”- This part fact, part fiction film powerfully dramatizes Israel’s heroic 1947-48 struggle for independence. West Point graduate, Mickey Marcus (played by Kirk Douglas) is called to the new state of Israel to build an army. Star studded cast.
2. “Constantine’s Sword” - James Carroll, a former priest and award winning writer, takes us on a fascinating journey to confront persecution and violence, all in the name of god. Carroll maps the very troubling 2,000 year course of the church’s battle against Judaism.
3. “Escape from a Nazi Death Camp” - On October 14, 1943, the inmates of Sobibor, a mass extermination camp, staged the most successful prison outbreak of WWII. The story is told through first hand accounts of four survivors - three jewish inmates and a Russian POW.
4. “Europa, Europa” - This “incredible true story” is “eye-opening, harrowing and humorous” as it recounts the severe actions a young boy must take in order to survive the Holocaust. It is based on the autobiography of Solomon Perel, a German Jew.
5. “The Four Seasons Lodge” - Filmed during the 26th summer in the Catskills, a group of Holocaust survivors “illustrate the awesome spectacle of life triumphing over annihilation.”
6. “Inheritance” - Moniker Herwig is the daughter of Amon Goeth, the brutal commandant of the Plaszow Concentration Camp in Poland. (You saw him and the camp in “Schindler’s List”) She seeks out Helen Jonas (a Long Islander), a Jewish victim at the camp who was enslaved by Goeth at the family villa near the camp. This film is a remarkable “gut-wrenching account of the continuing effect of Nazi horrors on human souls.”
7. “The Pawnbroker” (VHS) - Rod Steiger gives a mesmerizing performance as an embittered survivor of the Nazi death camp who can’t escape the ghosts of his past.
8. “Schindler’s List” (VHS) - 3 hours and 16 minutes.
9. “Supersize Me” - Morgan Spurlock personally explores “the consequences of his health on a diet solely consisting of McDonald’s food for one month.”
Contact Marcia Truland to borrow any of these films. 