Rating: 
Summary: The Devil's Arithmetic
Review: As a Polish scholar with interest in 2. WW and Holocaust I can only say - pop history. I hate, when filmmakers don't tell the whole truth or manipulate it. This movie is full of mistakes - right from beginning. October 1941 - surprise, surprise - Germans interrupt a wedding! But in the Fall 1941 Jews have been treated as animals in 2 years already and at least in a year they lived in ghettos. Deportation - discussion with Germans? Absurd! No selection before departure and after arrival? No way. KZ prizoners look quite healthy and fed up. And where are all this people stuffed together in KZ camps? No money for actors?
A romantic story with a tiny relation to the hell of Shoa.
If you want to see a movie closer to reality of Jews destiny see Spielbergs Schindlers List, see Polanskis The Pianist.
Rating:
Summary: An awe inspiring performance
Review: I absolutely thought this movie got the point across about the Holocaust. It was so terrible watching some of the torture that Jews went through, but the ending was definitely worth the emotional rollercoaster.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I lke this movie.It is about this girl who is from the future and she transports to the past where the nazi's and the concentration camps are.I am only 11 but I really liked this movie.And its a little bit scary.I watched it with my brother.And it showsw you nearly ALL the things the nazi's have done in the past.There is like a wedding and like lots of Jews are there and than the Nazi's come and fire the houses and they take the Jews to the concentration camp.And at the end the girl gets back to the future.You should really see this movie.
Rating:
Summary: "The Horror of the Holocaust ...for teenagers."
Review: I recently showed this film to my 7th graders as a part of our study of the Jewish people. I wasn't sure what to expect. To be certain, Kirsten Dunst (Hannah) is popular with teens today, yet I could not guess how a film dealing with Passover Sedars, Hebrew traditons, and a war so far away from the life of modern teens would go over in my classroom.To my surprise, the film proved to be the most riveting and attention-holding movie I can ever recall showing. In it are contained superb acting, eerie (and effective) musical interludes, and a suspense of time-travel that will hold teenagers absolutely spellbound! Dustin Hoffman's poignant introduction reveals his passion that young people today never forget the holocaust. As long as this film is available to be watched, they won't. At times, the suffering of the Jews (made personal by Dunst's wonderful performance) pushes the emotional limit of what I felt my students could take. Yet, with craft and artistry, we are spared in "The Devils' Arithmetic" the emotional overload of "Schindler's List". This is as it should be. "The Devil's Arithmetic" is geared to teenagers. If ever a theme of love, sacrifice, and the horror of hatred needed portrayal outside the realm of religion, one could not do much better than to show this film. What Hannah does for her best friend at the movie's conclusion is as gut-wrenching as it is predictable, and Nazi treatment of the Jews is brutally captured with appropriate reserve--no easy task! In the end, a young Jewish girl who began only with an interest in tatoos learns the lessons of history, tradition, and above all--life's priorities. In a nutshell, how lives and a culture can change in an instant is the strength of "The Devil's Arithmetic". Be very sure--this film will make a powerful impact on young teens! The dropping of the gas pellets at the conclusion of the dream sequence is intense...very intense. Yet how can the holocuast be portrayed without such reality? With younger teenagers, take care that background preparation, as well as a reflective time for discussion is provided. This movie packs an emotional punch, and will leave young minds impressed forever.
Rating:
Summary: This A Terrific Film!!!!
Review: I saw this film on cable and thought that it was absolutly teriffic.
I feel that it's almost like a Hebrew version of the Wizard Of OZ. Except with out a happy middle part. Louise Fletcher, as usual, was wonderfull as was Kirsten Dunst. I would reccomend this film for anyone who loves docudramas as well as anyone wanting a great tale of the Holocaust.
Rating: 
Summary: WE ALL ARE HUMAN; WE ALL BLEED
Review: I'm during research on human atrocities and it pains me how we compartmentalize atrocity so we can't see that it is every bit human. The research indicates when any "human" group is a target of abuse and exploitation -- the "human" group doing the exploitation will deny their victims the creation of their own names and the use of names, marriages, families, their own heritage, their own culture and religion and they will be beaten and starved and tortured and raped and burned and killed one by one or in masses and sometimes the graves are covered up and the existence of the people will be wiped from history. The people are killed during atrocities by lynchings, burnings, scalpings, gassings, drowings, in any and all ways. It's that other realm, that other spirit, that other side in the comprehension of reality where all this seems sensible and even right. HOW CAN I DO SUCH RESEARCH? Because there is hope: We are all human, we all bleed: we can all cooperate to obliterate atrocity from human existence if we can see the light in all of us and help it to "burn" (energetically) bright. This is not just ideal, this is real; it is possible in the human anatomy. THIS, is what it's all about: fighting the real enemy, fighting the common enemy. THERE WERE 11-16 million people killed in that German Holocaust, to only speak of one group conspicuously is highly political and there lies the spark and the seeds for future atrocity. It's called vengeance. BUT, then again, one who is of that conspicuous ancestry "currently" could argue that if their group didn't keep this particular atrocity on the minds of contemporaries, then, atrocity may happen again to others. BUT, it does happen to others; it is happening to others now because we don't see it as a human (or inhuman(e)) problem. We seem to see it as the problem of one particular conspicuous group as if atrocity is not possible toward all groups. Some of us are getting there. We can see the horizon. We are beginning to see that war is not the answer to much if at all anything but then "proper" INTERVENTIONS are highly necessary when groups go haywire into the other realm. We can always know who those humans are . . . because they don't look for a way out; they don't look for a way to stop the atrocity. Compromise is forever the higher ground especially when the lower ground is "unleashed" atrocity. So be my sermon. The End.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story. Sad, but Wonderful and Educational.
Review: It happened. It happened a million times to a million different Jews, though this story isn't based on any specific one of them. Something like that really happened to some poor person out there, someone who was ripped from their lives and put into a concentration camp, taken from their families, their homes and their freedom. People suffered. People died. People were and are permenantly scarred. And that is why this movie is so *SAD*... Hannah (Kirsten Dunst) doesn't seem to care much about her family's past. So when she magically ends up in Poland in 1942, it is safe to say she is terrified and bewidered. And while she is there in Poland, the Nazis come and take her, and the family members she is staying with away to a concentration camp. They tattoo her, and shave off her hair. They give her clothing to wear which is nothing more than rags, and make her do hard labor. She is no longer a name, she is a number. She has no freedom. And she is scared out of her mind. She finally begins to learn that she should show some more respect to her ancestors and her history. But it's too late. Anyone with a heart, with a conscience, will love this movie and the moving message it brings.
Rating:
Summary: No matter where you go, there you are
Review: Originally made for Showtime, this excellent video is is based upon the children's book of the same title. Make no mistake, Devil's Arithmatic is brutal and honest -- and definitely not for younger viewers. However, it is an excellent introduction to the reality of the Holocaust for junior high or middle school students. Hannah is like most contemporary teenagers -- she'd really rather be with friends than participate in her family's Passover Seder.(The fact that it's Passover and she's hanging out watching her friend get a tattoo doesn't even strike her as ironic. Hannah is a child of the '90s.) She grudgingly does go to the Seder, because, well, she doesn't have a choice. Instead of actually participating, Hannah gets tipsy. Then, things start to get interesting. Devil's Arithmatic is a lesson distguised as a time-travel story. How Hannah ends up in Poland in 1942 isn't important. She's there. And she's rounded up along with everybody else. Suddenly, all those stories old people insist on telling over and over begin to make sense. The brutality of life in a concentration camp becomes a living breathing thing -- not just a number on her Aunt Eva's arm. Being a Jew begins to have meaning she never imagined. Hannah finds that what you believe can not only give you strength -- it can define you and your world. More importantly, it can give you the knowledge to choose. Choice is power. In the the world of the unnamed camp, one can either choose humanity or spiritual death. Hannah chooses humanity. I really don't want to reveal too much of the plot, because the twists make Devil's Arithmatic extremely affecting. Normally, I do not like fiction about the Holocaust. To me, fictionalising the Shoah is disrepectful; it is like lying. This movie, however, is respectful and in its own way very haunting. It has its own world and its own truths. I cannot reccommend this video highly enough.
Rating: 
Summary: What I Thought
Review: The Devil's Arithmetic Puffin Books, 1990, 170 pp.,$4.99
Jane Yolen ISBN 0-14-034535-3
"All Jewish Holidays are about remembering Mama, I'm tired or remembering." "Tired or not, you're going with us, young lady. Grandpa Will and Grandma Belle are expecting the entire family, and that means you too."
Every year Hannah hates going to her family's Passover Seeder. It's always so long and so boring. But this year is different, Hannah doesn't know it yet but she is about to change time periods into a life completely different than the one she is presently living in.
Jane Yolen has written over 150 books in her long writing career. The Devil's Arithmetic is only one of the few I've written. Mrs. Yolen's writing style is definitely a type of writing I like to read. The types of books she writes really take you into a world beyond our world to discover things most people never get to discover.
If you are the type of person who likes a book that takes you into your own world, and has probably happeneds before, then The Devil's Arithmetic is a book you should read. In my opinion, it was one of he best books I have read in a really long time.
-Sajen Banister
Rating:
Summary: Horrid story, told incredibly well
Review: The Holocaust has to be one of the worst things to have happened in history. And, as those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, we continue to retell the story of the Holocaust from every different angle. This is an amazing telling of an incredibly sad tale. Those familiar with the Passover Seder knows that the story is explained to four "sons:" the Wise Son, the Bad Son, the Simple Son, and the Son Who Cannot Ask A Question. Kirsten Dunst plays a modern girl who epitomizes the Bad Som. She's not evil, but doesn't know what the heck it has to do with her. Nor does she care. Due to too much wine, or a miracle, Hannah is transported back in time to the Holocaust, where she spends time with family members before they go into a concentration camp, and is caught and sent to the camp with them. I cried hysterically throughout, and remain haunted by The Devil's Arithmetic. Because I hear that the book is even better, i'll be reading that as well. For a deeply moving story about the Holocaust, I do recommend this video.
| 
