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Originally Posted by FryeDwight
HOLOCAUST (1978). One of the many "Mini-Series" or "Big Events" shown on TV during the 70's about the experiences of two German families with a link during 1935-45, a wee to do Jewish family and a young lawyer who joins the SS because he needs employment.
There has been criticism over the year-some justified, some not-that the series is too disjointed, too violent, not violent enough, too much nudity (during a time when THREE'S COMPANY and SOAP were considered risque) too soap operish.
Myself, I think it's an ambitious undertaking seeing WW2 had only been over for 30 years or so and for some survivors and their families, emotions could still be raw. I'm not sure if the average person was familiar with Kristallnacht, T4 program or Babi Yar and these are shown here. While the scenes involving murder are chilling, they do look sort of sanitized, but consider how much more violent TV and films have become since then. Scenes in WAR AND REMEMBRANCE a decade later truly upped the ante from HOLOCAUST.
A stellar cast, especially Michael Moriarty, Fritz Weaver, Tovah Feldshuh (THE WALKING DEAD's DeAnna), David Warner, Ian Holm, a young Meryl Streep and James Woods playing against type as a sensitive heroic artist. And I know it isn't him, but when our protagonist enters Prague, it sure looks like Peter Cushing in the street.
Worth seeing despite how "sanitized" it looks and the many historical errors, as well as the epic length, around 9 hours. ***1/2
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i vaguely remember it, but certain I saw it's premiere on TV (not that it was ever re-run). I think our school recommended children seeing it. If I watched a trailer, I'm sure it would all flood back to the surface.
I remember The Winds of War miniseries (1983) more clearly, and remember it as an excellent big budget production war drama with the prominent character being Robert Mitchum and his wife. The musical theme was intense and memorable, and I was very into the series, despite it's very adult themes. I would probably consider it the best modern war series I ever saw, though there really hasn't been a great number of them.
And I remember not caring for the War and Remembrance sequel miniseries. I seem to remember it was much more contrived, preachy and the relationships were shallow, certainly compared to the complexity of Winds.