Rating: 
Summary: Ten thousand points of light in the darkness
Review: Dark, scary times create fear in the hearts of all. They also create moments of light, which shine out in the darkness, bright, illuminating, inspiring. "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" is a film of such remarkable light, of inspiration, that it even overcomes the horror surrounding them, leaving us speakless, breathless, and without a dry eye.Told from the point of view of children, "Kindertransport" weaves a narrative of parents, fearing Hitler's evil polciies, choosing to send their children away simply in order to save their lives. From 1938-1939, thousands of children were sent to Britian, in order to live. Survivors recount their trials, their ordeals, the reality of their lives as they left their parents, and is heartbreaking. Amazingly, some of the people who took in the children were interviewed too. At first as an act of mercy, these people grew to love the children who were merely guests in their homes. One woman breaks down as she recalls the boy she took in leaving her is so incredibly moving, as it happened fifty years ago.. We will never forget what happened. Films such as these will help keep these stories alive for centuries to come. Watch this film, and remember.
Rating:
Summary: A moving documentary told by adults speaking as children
Review: During that relatively small window of time, prior to the beginning of Hitler's conquest of Europe, when exportation rather than extermination was still the prudent solution to the "Jewish Problem", a rescue plan called the Kindertransport was begun which provided for the relocation of Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia into Great Britain. INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS is a documentary that examines the Kindertransport program through the eyes of the participants. No broad social commentary here, just remembrances of parents that had to send their kids away to a foreign land and into the arms of strangers so that they might survive the Nazi barbarians. The difficulty of having to provide a whole life's worth of instruction to children just before those devastating last goodbyes. A little girl wondering why, just after Hitler annexed Austria, none of her long-time Austrian friends showed up for her eighth birthday party. Parents desperately trying to keep the harsh reality of Nazi occupation from the innocent little people oblivious to the evil of man. And once the children were safe in Britain, their desperate attempts to get sponsors for parents left behind and for those lucky enough to be re-united with family after the war, having to say goodbye once again, only this time to broken hearted foster parents. This documentary is made more effective by snap-shots of the children, archival footage of Nazi Germany during the late 1930's ( a veritable sewer of anti-Jewish destruction and propaganda), and in this context, the painfully frightening sound effects of broken glass, trains and the voices of children singing in German, which seem strangely perverted - an unfortunate consequence which Germans should never forgive the Nazi's.
Rating:
Summary: Out of arms
Review: How hert wrenching it must hve been for the prents ofthse 10,000 children to send their babies away. As a parent it is our duty,right and privalege to care for our babies, tokeep them safe, happy and alive. But when the only way to guarentee their survival is by sending to another country. Into someone elses arms. You make these decisions and feel your heart bleeding, aching at the mere idea of not embrcing your child for months or years, or worse, never hearing the sound of their laughter again. This must have been their hell. Listening to the stories of the surviving Kindertransport members, you can almost hear the sounds of goodby.
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Summary: Not a rehash - an ORIGINAL , inspiring documentary
Review: I could watch this documentary over and over. For those who may not know of the Kindertransport, it was a major effort to get children out of Germany, Czechoslovakia and other countries and into Britain. Parents had to give up their children to strangers, hoping for the best.
Years later, the film-makers have interviewed actual participants in the Kindertransport and done an amazing job. This one stands out for several reasons. First, the accounts, told from the point of view those who were in the Kindertransport, are vivid and engrossing, revealing the sense of wonder, fear and courage the children experienced as they were given up by their parents. The score which accompanies the movie adds poignancy and depth without being manipulative or overly sentimental - not an easy task to pull off. If you still have doubts about purchasing this movie, rent it first (it just came out in a rental version). One viewing and I guarantee you'll want to own your own copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: I had waited months to see this documentary. It's an eye opening piece that explores a side of World War II which was left completely untouched when I was in school. For some reason I kept expecting more though. It wasn't that things were really glossed over, yet I felt like I was missing something. The begining of the documentary is very indepth, but the ending of the war an the stories of the childern being reunited with their parents seemed very quick and almost glossed over.
Rating:
Summary: into the arms of strangers is a wonderful documentary
Review: I saw "Into the Arms of Strangers: stories of the Kindertransport " in New Orleans at the Jewish Film Festival. This documentary chronicles the Kindertransport, a massive releif effor sponsored by Britain in which Jewish children from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria were welcome in Britain from November, 1938 to September , 1939. This is a moving documentary about the courage of parents giving up their children so they can live a better life. The real participants in the Kindertransport are interviewed. They recall in vivid detail their experiences and the feelings of fear and wonder at traveling and seeing the world for the first time. This documentary brings WWII to the human details. It challenges the viewer to reflect and think about what he would do when faced with such a difficult choice. This should be required viewing for all elementary school children. Look for Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" at your local theatre. It will truly move you.
Rating:
Summary: into the arms of strangers is a wonderful documentary
Review: I saw "Into the Arms of Strangers: stories of the Kindertransport " in New Orleans at the Jewish Film Festival. This documentary chronicles the Kindertransport, a massive releif effor sponsored by Britain in which Jewish children from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria were welcome in Britain from November, 1938 to September , 1939. This is a moving documentary about the courage of parents giving up their children so they can live a better life. The real participants in the Kindertransport are interviewed. They recall in vivid detail their experiences and the feelings of fear and wonder at traveling and seeing the world for the first time. This documentary brings WWII to the human details. It challenges the viewer to reflect and think about what he would do when faced with such a difficult choice. This should be required viewing for all elementary school children. Look for Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" at your local theatre. It will truly move you.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but could have been far more.
Review: Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Mark Jonathan Harris, 2000) It is a mark of how strongly Errol Morris' school of documentary filmmaking has had on the American documentary that talents like Morgan Freeman (who narrated Harris' first documentary) and Judi Dench (who narrates this one) are willing to lend their considerable speaking talents to documentaries where they are given so little air time. Morris showed us the power of the unnarrated documentary three decades ago in The Gates of Heaven, and has continued that trend throughout. And the strongest documentaries of the last decade have all had the same basic premise-let those who made the story tell it, and let them stand or fall on their own. It works to hilarious ends in such films as American Movie and Mule Skinner Blues, and to heartbreaking ones in Shoah. Harris twists the formula a tad by adding basic narration, but letting interviewees fill in the gaps. I wanted to see more. The story of the Kindertransport is one largely unknown in America (and largely forgotten in Germany and England, the two ends of the metaphorical railway); while there is undeniable power in letting the Kindertransport participants themselves tell their stories, the events themselves demand a bit more explication. Lanzmann was able to use a non-narrative technique in Shoah because the events depicted therein were at least partially well-known by the time he filmed; the Kindertransport is a story that could use a lot more fleshing out from an historical perspective. Not to say that it's a bad documentary; what's here is definitely worthwhile viewing, and probably deserving of its Best Documentary Oscar. It just could have been twice as long and achieved even more power than it did. ***
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Summary: My mother's story
Review: My mother left Vienna when she was 16, in the spring of 1939. Though she'd told my sister and me stories about traveling on a train and ending up with a family in England, neither of us had much of a sense of what had happened beyond her safe arrival in England, her being taken in by a loving family, and her eventual emigration to the US.
Into the Arms of Strangers helped me better understand the story of her life and that of thousands of others. The stories are gripping; the film is well-conceived and produced. The interviews are powerful.
The special power of this film is that it puts human faces on a moral outrage so enormous that we easily lose any sense of scale. Each interviewee tells a story which, though deeply personal, touched me as a fellow human being and as the child of a kindertransport child. This film helps us to understand the infinite worth of each individual-- those who were blessed with survival, and those who perished.
In a few months, my mother will turn 80. After viewing this film, I have the overwhelming desire to hear her tell the story of the kindertransport from her own experience. We must hear and pass on these stories before they are lost, and Into the Arms of Strangers is an excellent place to begin.
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Summary: This Documentary Will Make You Appreciate Your Parents
Review: Not only will this beautiful documentary make you cry, but it will also make you appreciate your parents like never before. This video illustrates the sacrifice that parents are willing to make for the welfare of their children, as well as the costs and benefits of those choices. This video is dramatically different from most movies on the Holocaust, as the emphasis is not on the process and procedure of the Holocaust, but rather on the relationships between parents, their children, and the way their relationships were modified through this dark era of world history. The majority of the children on the kindertransport were spared the horrors and almost certain death of the Holocaust only by the foresight and sacifice of their parents, who, more often than not, did not survive the persecution of their Nazi oppressors. In closing, this video is the perfect gift for any occasion, but most especially for Mother's Day, Father's Day or both: I cannot think of a better way to spark the maxim, Honor thy Father and thy Mother, for in watching it, they will be reminded to honor and love their parents, and you, in turn, by watching it, will do the same for your parents. Essentially, by giving this video to your parents, you will sanctify "Honor thy Father and Mother" up through the generations. Bring a hankerchief, though; if you're not teary-eyed by the end of this movie, then I question your humanity; i.e., your ability to love!
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