Monika Biciunaite Movies
This powerful, politically charged cable TV movie was based on the memoirs of Hungarian gynecologist and Holocaust survivor Gisella Perl. Having spent the WWII years in charge of the woman's infirmary at Auschwitz, Perl (played by Christine Lahti) hopes to leave her living nightmare behind when the Allies liberate Europe. But when she applies for American citizenship in 1946, she is hauled into military court to explain the extent to which she "collaborated" with the Nazis during the war. The U.S. officials are especially disturbed by the number of illegal abortions Perl performed at Auschwitz without her superiors' knowledge. But as Perl struggles to explain to her relentless interrogators (the explanation taking the form of extended flashbacks), she terminated the lives of the unborn to save thousands of pregnant women from the Nazi gas chambers. Filmed on location in Canada, the U.K., and Lithuania, Out of the Ashes made its Showtime network debut on April 13, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
A famed Lithuanian painter expresses the torment of his youth through his paintings. But lately, even his work provides no solace, for he falls into a deep mid-life crises and can find no inspiration. This grim, earnest and arty drama looks back upon his formative years, the joy of which were destroyed by Stalin's policies. The darkness began for him when his father was arrested for being an enemy of the state and sent to a Siberian prison. The boy and his remaining family become social pariahs, and the only way his mother can support them is to prostitute herself to the local police and politicians. Eventually the young painter is sent to the countryside, but even there, he cannot escape the fear and oppression. To cope, he becomes hard and cynical; his mother too changes dramatically and when the father finally returns home, he finds himself among virtual strangers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vidas (Tadas) Petkevicius, Monika Biciunaite, (more)
