MovieChat Forums > Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000) Discussion > One of the best DVD's I have ever seen.

One of the best DVD's I have ever seen.

posted 20 years ago by OCOKA
11 replies | jump to latest

The DVD version of ITAOS:SOTK is packed with additional documentary footage and never-before-seen interviews to blow the mind.

One of the most moving scenes is Kindertransportee Lore Segal talking of her experiences trying to get photographed in England when she arrived with one of the first Kindertransports, but to no avail. Then, she is shown in a side-by-side composite alongside BBC wartime footage of her as 13-year-old emerging from a boat in England with other Kindertransport children from Holland. The number card she is wearing in the black-and-white newsreel is the same she holds for us to see today: "152". Absolutely moving, as Segal had no idea this footage existed until the producers of Kindertransport serendipitously came upon it, and showed it to her.

This is without question one of the best documentaries to come out of 2000, and is one of the most important Holocaust retrospectives to have been made (along with Anne Frank Remembered). In the DVD version, this is brought home to us during footage recording its premiere in London, where German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, delivers a very frank message about the importance of this documentary.

What was moving was the statement that rolls after Schroeder's message, that stated "Kindertransport" is now being made available by the German education ministry to all secondary schools in Germany as part of their mandatory Holocaust education program. I don't why, but this was moving for me.

Has anyone else seen this film? What did you think about it? What scenes did you like and why?

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[–] Maggie5554515 17 years ago

I watched it and I cried during the whole movie. It's heartbreaking what these people have gone through.

[–] lucypevensie10 16 years ago

We watched it in school just yesterday... because we were in our WW2/Holocaust Unit.... It's really sad to watch (Or read, if you choose to read the book) because I can not feel what these people were feeling... Anyone who could go through this must be very brave.

[–] jyanks 16 years ago

My favorite part of the movie was when Kurt was talking about going back to his parents. And you can see how painful it was for him to leave his adopted parents, as he had grown very close to them. And then he was talking about how difficult it was to go back to his parents & act like normal & pick up where they left off. Then with tears in his eyes, Kurt says, "I know I should be lucky - my parents were alive & I had 2 sets of parents"....but the pain remained in his eyes as he said that statement.
Beautiful & moving documentary.

[–] jthekoz 15 years ago

It's hard for me to have a favorite part of a movie that is a series of unrelentingly compelling scenes and stories. I surely don't criticize others who do, but I just can't.

This movie is a masterful and unforgettable achievement and is a must-see.

I'm sorry to say that it also makes me ashamed of my country, America, for the way it turned a blind eye on these children and so many other realities of the Holocaust. Maybe if each child had a gallon of oil to bring with them they would have been welcomed.

[–] idemandeuphoria 15 years ago

I just discovered this film through the magic of Netflix. I had read stories about the kinderstansport when I in elementary school and it was extremely moving to fully understand the impact of this program now, as an adult.

I cried various times throughout the film, but I have to say the most moving segment was when they discussed that the United States refused to help take refugee children from the kindertransport. Congree issued a statement saying that dividing parent and child was against the design of God. But apparently, letting them die in the hands of Hitler was all well and good. It irritates me that Americans fancy themselves the heroes of this war, we swooped on in and won it for the team, alright, but too late, too hesitantly, and only after provoked by Pearl Harbor.

Also moving was the prevailing sadness in the stories of those who ultimately lost their parents forever. The tales told by survivors whose families emerged intact were lighter, their countenance was visibly more buoyant. Without being told beforehand, I think anyone could guess whose parents lived and whose did not. It's amazing, five or six years in a 70 year old's life irreparably shape and change them forever, pieces of them always mourning for some kind of life they might have had, had not a great evil intervened.

[–] Cinnyaste 10 years ago

Hi, Indiepoo.

[–] Cinnyaste 10 years ago

Hi, Indiepoo.