Leopold Kozlowski Movies

Based on an autobiographical novel by Jack Eisner, this wartime drama of survival covers almost too much territory within its short telling, often giving the impression that something has been left out. Jacek, who is Jewish, miraculously manages to survive World War II in Nazi-occupied Poland. Director Moshe Mizrahi brings forward the reality of the Warsaw ghetto, the deportation of Jews to death camps, and the terror that reigned for the war years in Poland by placing Jacek at crucial points in the narration as the observer of key historical events. As a subplot to Jacek's story, which also involves a love affair with Haling (Kyra Sedgwick) and German soldiers' repeated attempts to kill him, is a tale of how young kids in the Warsaw ghetto devise their own method of fighting oppression. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory. By staffing his plant with Jews who've been herded into Krakow's ghetto by Nazi troops, Schindler has a dependable unpaid labor force. For Stern, a job in a war-related plant could mean survival for himself and the other Jews working for Schindler. However, in 1942, all of Krakow's Jews are assigned to the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, overseen by Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), an embittered alcoholic who occasionally shoots prisoners from his balcony. Schindler arranges to continue using Polish Jews in his plant, but, as he sees what is happening to his employees, he begins to develop a conscience. He realizes that his factory (now refitted to manufacture ammunition) is the only thing preventing his staff from being shipped to the death camps. Soon Schindler demands more workers and starts bribing Nazi leaders to keep Jews on his employee lists and out of the camps. By the time Germany falls to the allies, Schindler has lost his entire fortune -- and saved 1,100 people from likely death. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture and a long-coveted Best Director for Spielberg, and it quickly gained praise as one of the finest American movies about the Holocaust. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Three older Jewish women deal with issues in their families and the long shadow of the Holocaust in this episodic drama. In the film's first segment, Rivka (Shulamit Adar) is on a bus tour of Poland with her husband and is accidentally left behind after a stop at a cemetery. She is furious with her husband, who didn't notice that she was missing; she's felt neglected by him for years, but she doesn't have the strength to leave him. The second story moves to Paris, where Regine (Liliane Rovere) receives startling news: her father, who supposedly died in a concentration camp during World War II, is actually alive in Lithuania. When she arrives in Lithuania, she's startled by the sight of her father, a very old man who doesn't quite recognize her, as well as his story: after the liberation of his camp, he made his way on foot and ended up behind the Iron Curtain, from where he was unable to return to Europe. In the final story, Vera (Esther Gorintin) and her neighbors travels from Moscow to Tel Aviv, hoping to visit a cousin who is now in a rest home. She eventually gets lost and is befriended by Rivka, from the first episode. Voyages is the directorial debut for Emmanuel Finkiel, who previously worked as an assistant director for Krzysztof Kieslowski and made a short film that won a César award in France. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide