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Grey Zone, The
(2002) Starring:
David Arquette, Mira Sorvino, Steve Buscemi
Director: Tim Blake
Nelson
Rating: R
Studio:
Lions Gate Films
Review
Posted: 10.18.02
Spoilers:
Minor
Rating: 3/4
By
Sara M. Fetters.
"Powerful,
Thought-Provoking Grey Zone Packs a Punch"
I think
I’ve discovered why Tim Blake Nelson takes all of those wacky
surreal roles in films like
Minority Report and
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
It’s to counteract the aftereffects of his directorial efforts
like Eye of God and O. They are dark, thoroughly
uncompromising works of a filmmaker completely fearless to take
an audience into dank recesses of the human condition.
Now comes
The Grey Zone, easily Nelson’s most dire and depressing
film. Based upon his play of the same name, the film is based on
a true story that took place during one of history’s darkest
hours. Unknown to many, much of the grittier (and unseemly) work
at Auschwitz during World War II was done by a group of Jewish
prisoners known as the Sonderkommandos. For a four-month period,
they were given a reprieve from the gas chambers and allowed one
or two luxuries in exchange for preparing other prisoners for
the gas chamber and then cleaning up there remains afterwards.
In late
1944, the 12th Sonderkommando unit revolted against
their Nazi captors, bringing to a halt one of Aushwitz’s inhuman
killing machines. The Grey Zone begins with this revolt
still in the planning stages. Hungarians working in crematorium
one and Poles working in crematorium three strike an uneasy
alliance to bomb their work facilities, hoping to cease the
production of human death at the death camp. But there is much
friction and animosity between the groups, yet the Polish
Abramowics (Steve Buscemi, every bit as good here as he was in
last year’s Ghost World)
refuses to give up hope and pushes the two sides to work
together.
The Grey
Zone is not an easy
sit. Much of it is didactic and the film’s roots as a play are
all too noticeable. Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off the
screen. Nelson never strays from the horror inherent in the
story, and he refuses to apologize for characters that
essentially kill their fellow prisoner all for an extra four
months of life. Where films like Life is Beautiful tend
to pull their punches, The Grey Zone is so dark you feel
as if soot from the fires of Auschwitz is clinging to your
clothes.
Aside from
Buscemi, who is reliably excellent, other actors give some of
their finest work here. Most notably, David Arquette redeems
himself after See Spot Run
and those unbelievably annoying AT&T commercials. His character
becomes more and more unhinged as the film progresses, and his
final denouement is one of the more heartrending put on film in
quite some time. Also quite good are Mira Sorvino (Mighty
Aphrodite) and Natasha Lyonne (American
Pie) as female internees working the munitions line at
the camp, smuggling gunpowder out to the Sonderkommando
conspirators.
Like O
and Eye of God, The Grey Zone is not an easy
movie to watch, or like, for that matter. It feels long and
pretentious at times, but I have the feeling that has more to do
with the weighty subject matter more than anything else. It also
isn’t a film fit for light entertainment on a rainy weekend
afternoon. But it is a strong, unsparing look at a moment in
history that should not be forgotten, made by a director
unafraid to look the scarring bleakness of the situation
squarely in the eye. For filmgoers looking for something more,
they could do a lot worse then turn here.
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