Mark Friedman Movies

Richard Trank's documentary I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal joins Into the Arms of Strangers, The Power of Good, and other recent nonfiction films that reflect on WWII-era individuals emotionally invested in the pursuit of justice. This heart-rending film concerns Wiesenthal, a concentration camp survivor released from the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in 1945 on the verge of death from starvation. During his imprisonment, Wiesenthal dreamed of one day re-entering society and establishing himself as an architect, but the atrocities of the camp pointed Wiesenthal's life and career in a much different direction. When Wiesenthal returned to the outside world, with 89 of his family members exterminated by the Holocaust, he vowed to track down and bring to justice as many of the perpetrators of the Nazi atrocity as he could find - and spent years at this task, via a running list of the camp torturers, that he had secretly kept as a detainee. In the early years, with much of the world still ignorant of the extent of the Holocaust, Wiesenthal's was virtually a one-man operation, but in time, he joined forces with the American War Crimes Unit and U.S. Army War Crimes Committee to see the task through to fruition. All told, Wiesenthal helped incriminate an astonishing 1,100 individuals, including the leaders of the Sobibor and Treblinka camps, Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele - and his overarching goal, astonishingly, was not cold blooded revenge but a simple love of humanity - the need to free future generations from the dark shadow of the Nazi threat. To create this film in Wiesenthal's memory, Trank and his crew travel to multiple continents, and film exclusive interviews with those whose lives were touched by Wiesenthal, as well as Wiesenthal's descendants; they intercut this interview footage with rare archival footage of Wiesenthal. Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman narrates. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The insidious rise of anti-Semitism in the 21st century is examined in this documentary from filmmaker Richard Trank. In a world where tolerance is supposedly the watchword, politically, spiritually and historically-based slander against Jews is making a surprising comeback, as radical Moslems encourage violence against Jews, political leaders espouse anti-Israeli policies in the name of supporting the rights of Palestinians, right-wing skinheads recruit teenagers into their ranks, and commentators often cite the Jewish state for crimes which are ignored when committed by other nations. Ever Again presents damning evidence of rising anti-Jewish sentiment in France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and features interviews with Alan Dershowitz, Nicolas Sarkozy, Louise Ellman and Dr. Judea Pearl. Ever Again was produced with the cooperation of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this film of her one-woman show, former Saturday Night Live cast member Julia Sweeney recounts the worst year of her life. Something more than a stand-up routine, the comedienne performs on a stage set with only a couch, a chair, a table, and a lamp. With her run on Saturday Night Live and a marriage both behind her, she moved into the cozy house of her dreams in Los Angeles. But then, "God said 'HA!'". Her beloved brother Mike was diagnosed with lymph cancer, and he moved in with Sweeney so she could care for him. Their parents, worried, moved in as well, treating Julia like a teenager in her own house. Her house became crowded, and she slept on the couch in her backyard office. Then it really got personal; Julia was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Sweeney recounts her brother's struggles with chemotherapy, spinal taps, and a shunt in his forehead until Julia witnesses the performance of the Last Rites. She counterpoints the dark material with much humor, including an examination of her parents' many eccentricities. They force meatloaf upon her vegetarian diet, her mother communicates by stringing together several thoughts to make a single idea, and her father is addicted to National Public Radio and speaks of announcer Cokie Roberts as a life long friend. Julia Sweeney developed the material that would eventually become God Said, "Ha!" in comedy workshops in order to find the humor in her experience. It eventually became a 45 minute piece and then premiered in its final form in San Francisco in 1996. After an extended run, she moved the show to Los Angeles, and finally to Broadway. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

The struggles of European Jews during WWII have been well documented, but this film (produced with the cooperation of the Simon Weisenthal Center) makes it clear that the ordeal of those who suffered during the Holocaust did not end with the liberation of Europe. The Long Way Home uses interviews with Holocaust survivors, newsreel footage, and readings of letters, journals, and news reports, to tell the story of the hardships faced by those freed from concentration camps in 1945. Often riddled with disease, suffering from malnutrition, and remorseful over having survived while their loved ones perished, many survivors soon discovered that they no longer had homes to return to, and many European nations, struggling with their own post-war poverty, would not accept the refugees. Some found themselves in Displaced Persons camps, which were often only marginally better than the camps from which they had been freed, while others attempted to flee to Palestine, over the objections of the British government, who then held the territory as a colony. The establishment of the Zionist state of Israel was widely seen as the best solution to bring dignity, self-determination, and a homeland back to the refugees, but the notion was widely opposed at first, particularly by the British government. The Long Way Home is narrated by Morgan Freeman. Martin Landau, Edward Asner, Helen Slater, David Paymer, and Michael York contribute readings to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide