The ending? - The Devil's Arithmetic (1999) Discussion

[–] tinkerbell_bubbles36 19 years ago

I would think they really cut their hair. For a movie like that, even if it didn't reach the cinema I think I could make the sacrifice. My hair would grow back. :)

"Don't worry, we're not laughing at you, we're laughing near you."

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[–] shortbuteffective03 19 years ago

actually, they did shave their heads. I'm actually friends with Lina Avizienis and she showed me pictures of it after. Good movie.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] rainybklynight 19 years ago

Tsch. I saw this movie in English class and my teacher's like, "Yeah, what really touched me was the cutting of their hair and how that really degraded them and all. I couldn't take that, so that really touched me." Hello? That wasn't exactly the worst part there.... What about sending that little girl to be gassed? The Nazi peeking in to see whether or not they were dying? The public hangings? Infanticide? Wouldn't that touch you more?

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] briarswt 18 years ago

While you make a good point, I think your teacher had the right idea.

Back then - and to a certain point today - the girls' identities were their hair. It's kind of like our clothing today. At that point, you just didn't cut your hair. That's why bobbing your hair here in America was such a big deal - it's a break from the old traditional views of women. What they did - and couldn't show for this rating - was that these women were very likely completely nude - and they had NO covering.

Picture this: You've been drug from your home - probably late at night. You've spent the past months or years being terrified for your safety. You've just spent anywhere for a day to three or more in a cramped cattle car with minimal food - if any - and no water. There was little room for you to sit - let alone lay down. Your bodily functions aren't exactly going to quit so you've had to embarass yourself in front of people you might not know. All of a sudden you're let out, you're separated from your father, husband, or brother and you have no way of knowing if they're ok. They make you give up a piece of family journey your mother gave to you or a ring your husband gave you on your wedding day. Then you're forced to strip out of the clothes you're wearing - and the S.S. male guards don't leave. And they don't give you anything to cover yourself but move you along and you find yourself forced into a chair while a guy yanks on your hair and starts cutting it away. And he doesn't stop just with the hair on your head. And everyone's watching as they wait for their turn. You've lost a huge part of your self respect and your identity. There are accounts where women couldn't recognize their family members after this. And for many, this is where the illusion ended.

So while the scenes of the hanging and the gassings are hardly fluff to get through, it's just a part of the dehumanization that began for them when they arrived and had their head shaved.

Interestingly enough, in the book it is this part where Hannah loses her memory of her real life in New Rochelle.

This movie, for all its wonderful qualities, is fairly easy on this. . . I suggest you watch the Anne Frank: The Whole Story movie with Hannah Taylor Gordon and watch her and the actress who plays her sister once they get to Auschwitz. I burst into tears when I watch Hannah's eyes during the hair cutting scene.

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[–] Erin_go_bragh1216 18 years ago

Wow! I'll be teaching this book this year and you make wonderful points that I'll be sure to note as we read. Hair, even today, is something most women use to hide away from the world. It's our protection, covering, comfort. Like a blanket around your face you can use to literally hide. I've noticed females doing that at all ages, actually. I've done it a time or two myself!

And the fact that you mentioned that's where Hannah loses her memory... excellent point. She mentions in the book that she can't recognize anyone, not even Gritl, once they are naked and shaven. It was very degrading, because there was no care taken in cutting/shaving the hair. It is a part of our identity and to have it taken away against our will is a way the Nazis could see us as less human and make us feel that way, as well. That's why some became "musselman," (ghosts- close to the walking dead, and often died) I believe, because they realized the outside world no longer cared what happened to them. And the guard mentions "no hair, no lice" as the reason for the hair cutting and Hannah, I believe, thinks that all of them have no lice. I believe Hitler was a Machivelli and knew exactly what to do to strip the Jews and other camp victimes of all dignity, honor, and livelihood. Although 6 million Jews died, he didn't succeed, thank God.

What they didn't mention in the book, was how the gold fillngs of the concentration camp inhabitants were yanked out without cleanliness or attention to pain. So these poor people were wondering in a dirty & foul camp, without nutrition, proper bathing, adequate clothing, or medication with open sores in their mouths.

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[–] Jungle_Red 18 years ago

I think that shaving their heads is sort of in a symbolic in a way of showing that they really dehumanized Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies and others took away every single right.

"Where's the sherbert, mother?"
"It's there, beneath the layer of protective ice..."

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[–] radiokoofachalus 19 years ago

Kirsten Dunst didn't cut her hair, she wore a bald cap. I read an interview with her where she stated it was hard to act in because she couldn't move her eyebrows or crinkle her forehead otherwise the caps would show. I think it was from a Seventeen magazine.

La la la...linoleum!

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[–] rainybklynight 18 years ago

You make an excellent, and yes, I DID see the Anne Frank movie, and it was rather good. I totally agree with everything you just said, but I think that the teacher could have emphasized the other aspects as well, and even talked about what they COULDN't show in the movie, or other people's accounts. But it seemed like either that was all that she really knew about the Holocaust, or she knew more but was just being condescending in an attempt to "shelter" us.

That's what really got to me. That it seemed as if she thought we couldn't handle it, or shouldn't know everything. Or that even she didn't know the worst horrors.

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[–] omg_dorkfaceee 18 years ago

the diary of anne frank was much better

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[–] igabunalska 18 years ago

Reallity in camps was worse than in that film. It was impossible to have baby in camp. For example , pregnant women were killed in gas chamber in Auschwitz ( the biggest camp) or their babies were cut off mother's stomach.
I think the best film , which has ever been made about Holocaust is "PIANISTA" (Polish production). I liked diary of Anna Frank too but I think that Pianista is much much interesting.

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[–] butrcupbaby89 18 years ago

"That's what really got to me. That it seemed as if she thought we couldn't handle it, or shouldn't know everything. Or that even she didn't know the worst horrors."

Well if you want to know and see the worst horrors of the Holocaust, I highly suggest you watch some of the actual film of when Allied troops liberated some of the concentration camps.
I almost threw up watching the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

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[–] mgirls 18 years ago

I think that they realy did cut their hair. You can see, because now kierstin dunce's hair is shout. I think that she cut it off, and liked haveing shorter hair. Just a theory. I think that ithe end was the saddest part though. Especially with the little girl :'(

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[–] TerminatorFan2013 18 years ago

this movie was made in 1993. her hair would have grown back by now.

"He's there,The Phantom of the Opera"
-The Phantom of the Opera

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[–] Phat-Gurlz_WillRockU 18 years ago

The reason they cut hair in the camps is because is someone got lice or bugs, it would not spread.

Toplessness is next to Holyness
xBlueEyesx

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[–] TerminatorFan2013 18 years ago

that is one reason but another is to make them feel like they weren't human and they were animals.There was alot of reasons the Nazis had for what they did but every reason is stupid, cruel, and inhuman.

"No good deed goes unpunished!"
- Wicked

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[–] Judimex 18 years ago

Another reason for cutting women´s hair in the conentration camps was to stuff mattresses and pillows for German troops. I read this somewhere in a holocaust book. The German´s also did terrible things to young children / babies like experiment on them and throw them into open fire pits when discarded.

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[–] ox_emely 18 years ago

I thought they cut their hair because when you burn hair it smells horrible. The less hair, the less smell there would be when you get fried.

God, people like you shouldn't reproduce. << sig.

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[–] joisepeterson 17 years ago

I have read in accounts from a surviour. That her mother, aunt, cousin and her had not only their hair shaved but also their pubic hair as well. So they were as she quotes "Bold Monkeys". The Nazi's also cut the hair of the gassed victims who came from the train. The hair was turned into blankets. There is a pic somewhere on the net of a huge sack of human hair at the concentration camp.

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[–] mathilde_eh 17 years ago

I guess this is the pic you're referring to..:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Holocaust/auhair.jpg

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[–] KATHYPILCZUK 17 years ago

i love that movie

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[–] A_Bob 17 years ago

It was done that way because it was the way the book was written. Jane Yolen is known for her sci-fi/fantasy stories and threw in this fantastic twist ala Wizard of Oz.

If you really want to have a view of that Jews were put through, read "I Have Lived a Thousand Years". I would love to see that turned into a movie. Of course, it would have to be rater R.

Bob

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[–] Potato7 17 years ago

I agree. "I Have Lived a Thousand Years" provides a very candid portrayal of the camps. I would also like to see that turned into a movie.

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