MovieChat Forums > Sorstalanság (2005) Discussion > FATELESS QUESTIONS - Spoilers!

FATELESS QUESTIONS - Spoilers!

posted 18 years ago by Dreldon
7 replies | jump to latest

Was very impressed by FATELESS, but had some big questions.I was completely unaware of any infirmary in a concentration camp, especially such a "nice" one in Auschwitz. It seems that a kid with an inflamed leg would've been immediately killed, not treated with far more kindness than what he encountered as a slave laborer.

Also, he returns to find his relative's apartment seemingly untouched, with his grandfolks none the worse for the wear. Weren't all the Jews in Budapest sent to the camps? Thanks so much to anyone who clears this confusion up for me.

[–] bsl-3 18 years ago

About the first question: there should have been infirmarys there, because the story has really happened to the Nobel prized author Imre Kertész. I can't imagine that he had simply made up that part.

Second question: first they started sending jews to camps from the country, after they have finished it, they aimed the jews living in Budapest. However governor Horthy managed to refuse the germans demands for a while, that's why 'a lot' jew escaped. And there were other ways too. Read this:

http://www.remember.org/imagine/wallenberg.html

[–] basketball_chica9119 18 years ago

Most concentration camps had infirmiry's, though I'm not sure of the exact purpose. The doctors and nurses were usually Jewish prisoners, and routine inspections were made throughout them; the patients that could not walk were executed. (I'm no 100% sure of this matter, but its the general idea I've taken away of years of reading both fiction and non-fiction Holocaust novels). The Jewish doctors may explain why he was treated better..

[–] smegzilla 18 years ago

There were definitely infirmaries in the camp. Most of them were like the one he was in first with the crowded bunks, the filthy shared blanket, the lice and maggots, etc. Prisoners were actually treated for ailments, but from what i understand it was risky being in hospital because they were often selected for the gas chambers. The nicer hospital he was in was not Auschwitz. I believe it was Buchenwald or another camp in germany. There were instances towards teh end of the war when the Germans knew they were going to lose and liberation was near, they began to treat the prisoners a bit better so their liberators would not think they had been mistreated so badly. This could be an explanation for that. It also crossed my mind that he had been taken there to be experimented on, but that didn't happen so maybe he was liberated before the experiments, or perhaps that was not the case anyway.

As previous poster said, the Jewish people in Budapest were not all arrested and sent away. The Nazis didn't begin going after Hungarians until about 1944. They began in rural areas first and most of them were sent to Auschwitz and gassed upon arrival. Jews in Budapest were also arrested but the Germans didn't get to the mass deportations as they had in other cities. With the help of people like Raoul Wallenburg people were able to survive. I don't think the boy's grandparents were there (I could be wrong) and it was his neighbours that he went to see. I think one of them mentioned that his stepmother's new husband even hid her when things got bad

[–] malone874 18 years ago

It's true that many of the camps had an infirmary; the point was to keep well those who were still viable workers. The kid received good treatment for the reason the previous poster mentioned: so the nazis would be seen as compasionate toward their prisoners.

[–] mamtasb 18 years ago

I simply loved the movie, in many ways more so than Schindler's List and one of the reasons (though i may be somewhat confused seeing how i watched Schindler's List years ago when i was 12 i believe) is the music. They actually kept the traditional, folk songs along with Ennio Morricone's soundtrack of course (i love his work)whereas other Holocaust movies like The Pianist have Chopin and SL has john william's' soundtrack exclusively.

I remember in my first year in college a lovely jewish gentleman who had survived the concentration camp came to our college and talked about their music and how that music kept them alive. He even played us some pieces but i never managed to find any so could someone please help me out and let me know if they recognize any of the songs in the movie and if they do how i could get my hands on them. Thanks

Also, what i love about this movie is that it doesnt leave you feeling like a vouyeur because the film also draws on the Koves' happier times, he in fact says that when people ask they always want to know how horrible it was but the next time hell tell them about the happier times. The movie is poingnant and profoundly different from other Holocaust movies that i have seen and i highly reccomend it to everyone.

- MB

[–] m-ica 18 years ago

I not only recommend the movie, I also recommend reading the book. Many of the questions asked here are narrated in detail in it. This was also one of the few films I didn't regret seeing after I had read the book. And I'm glad it wasn't a Spielberg!

-MM

[–] danstheman82 18 years ago

First of all, the hospital is not in Auschwitz, the movie does not say where he is when he is in the hospital, but it looks like a German war prisoner hospital as opposed to a concentration camp hospital.

As far as relatives in Hungary fo, my grandmother, who was sent to Auschwitz, had a son who survived realtively ok in an orphanage in Budapest. She also had friends and cousins who spent the war years there as well. A number of Budapest's Jews were not deported, they were forced to live in "Star Houses" sort of like wearing a Jewish star, but painted on the house, but they were able to remain in Hungary.

My Grandmother did mention that during the last few days of the war the camp she was in gave out more food, and then the Germans left a few days later. She did not remember a lot of the order of things that happened to her, it was a haze to her, sort of like it was to Györke in the movie, so I can't be sure she remembered exactly, but she talked about it often enough.

Hope it was helpful.