SOBIBOR

Russia, 2018, 116 minutes, Colour.
Konstantin Khabensky, Christopher Lambert, Ivan Zlobin.
Directed by Konstantin Khabensky.

As might be expected, this is a very sobering film. Already, there had been an American tele-movie in 1987, Escape from Sobibor. This Is a Russian Interpretation of the events and the characters, featuring a Soviet officer, one of the key instigators of the escape. The writer-director plays this character.

There is extensive re-creation of the camp, from the opening sequences of the railway station with the German officers and their double-talk and the forced welcome by the Jews, the separation of men and women, the labelling of the luggage for retrieving, the lies. The extent of the camp is shown, the various buildings, the fences and guard houses, the interiors.

While there were many hundreds in the concentration camp, the film focuses on a few, initially a group of jewellers, one of whom discovers that his wife has been gassed, who descends into madness and is eventually killed by a callous officer pouring alcohol over him and setting him alight. There is also the young man, Shlomo, who is disbelieving at first but will eventually shoot the Commandant. (It is a surprise to find the rather-worn Commandant played by Christopher Lambert.). The prisoners are mainly men although there is a focus on young woman who is eyed by the Germans, and a young Russian girl in love with the Soviet officer, Sasha.

There are many sequences of humiliation, one man being continually beaten, counting aloud, being asked to start again. The Soviet officer is ordered by the Commandant to split a large tree trunk within five minutes. And, a rather emotionally unbearable sequence at a German officer party where the prisoners are forced to be the horses drawing the carts of the officers who whip the men, the Commandant himself whipping the Soviet officer.

Ultimately, the prisoners band together, need some kind of military organisation to kill their guards and officers, to break down the gate and escape into the countryside – where quite a number were killed or handed back by the local inhabitants, where some escaped, with the Soviet officer joining forces to fight in the war, we Shlomo for Brazil and is rumoured to have killed their 18 fugitive Nazi officers.

Memories and a tribute.

1. Audience knowledge of concentration camps, the Holocaust, the execution of the Jews? Audience knowledge of the camp at Sobibor? The escape? The consequent history? The obliteration of the campsite?

2. A Russian film, perspective, the focus on the Soviet officer and his leadership of the escape?

3. The reconstruction of the camp, the railway station, the arrival, the showers and the gas, the dormitories, the workplaces, offices, the jewellery, carpentry? The officers mess and the parties? The work outside the camp? The musical score?

4. The arrival, the people on the trains, the alleged welcome, the German officers, the Jewish people welcoming? The attitude of those arriving, the touch of the carefree, men and women, children? Giving up their luggage, the separation, the promises, the luggage tags?

5. The women, the cutting of the hair, naked, going into the showers, gassed, murdered?

6. The men, allotted their work? In the dormitories, the Jews, the presence of the Russians, the immediate dislike, the gradual change? The memories of the Russians and their escape attempts in Minsk, the consequent deaths? Sasha, his leadership, his regrets, the bond with Liuka?

7. The sorting of the jewellery, the jeweller discovering his wife’s engagement ring, his grief, his denunciations, descent into madness, the alcohol poured over him, his being set alight? The young man with his skills, glasses, the officer and his continually beating him, counting aloud, starting again? The humiliation at the party? The young woman and her support – and Is Being forced to kiss her?

8. Shlomo, making the earings for his sister, losing his family? His work? His changing attitudes, the influences? The ultimate challenge, the rifle, shooting the Commandant?

9. The Russians, working together, the focus of the Commandant on Sasha? Out in the fields, the axe and splitting the log in five minutes?

10. The Commandant, his background, control, with the men, with the Jews, with the young woman, his eye on her? The demands, the cruelty, chopping the log in the forest? Presiding at the party, his drinking, the officers and their carts, the Jews as their horses, his confronting Sasha, the whip? His bewilderment at the escape? Shlomo shooting him?

11. The movement for an uprising? Discussions, fears, the need for military precision? The Russians?

12. The plan, the detailed killing of the officers, the little boy and his enticing them for fittings for clothes? Those involved in the killings? The timing of the escape? The rushing of the gates, the guards and the guard tower, guns, shooting? The number getting out of the gate, pushing the gate down, out into the fields? The number shot? Liuka and her being shot, Sasha rescuing her?

13. The focal focus on Shlomo, the long takes of his running to freedom? Symbolic?

14. The information about those who escaped from the camp, those murdered or handed in by the locals, the survivors? Sasha and his fighting against the Germans? Shlomo and his going to Brazil – and the story of his killing 18 officials who had escaped to Brazil?

15. The Germans, the humiliation, the destruction of the camp? The sentences given to those guilty, especially the Commandant?

16. The memorial to the prisoners in Sobibor? The continued memories and tributes?