Amazon.com

This Academy Award®-winning documentary (produced with the cooperation of the United States Holocaust Museum) chronicles one of the lesser-known stories of the Holocaust: that of the kindertransport, which saved the lives of 10,000 Jewish children. In the late 1930s, England agreed to accept these children seeking refuge from Nazi oppression. They were placed in foster homes and hostels. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris (who received an Oscar® for his 1997 Holocaust documentary The Long Way Home), this devastating and deeply moving film bears witness to the kindness of these "simply wonderful people" and to the resilience of the kinder, now elderly, who recall in haunting stories the unimaginable grief of being suddenly torn from their parents, the trauma of not knowing whether they would ever see them again, and the difficulties some faced in their new homes. Recalls one, "None of the foster parents with whom I stayed could stand me for very long. But all of them had the grace to take in a Jewish child." But despite having their youth uprooted, many possess an indomitable spirit. One woman speaks of devoting her adult life to human rights and social justice causes. "I can't pay back or thank some of the people who helped me," she states, "But I can do something for other people." --Donald Liebenson ... Read more

Reviews (14)

into the arms of strangers is a wonderful documentary
I saw "Into the Arms of Strangers: stories of the Kindertransport " in New Orleans at the Jewish Film Festival. This documentary chronicles the Kindertransport, a massive releif effor sponsored by Britain in which Jewish children from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria were welcome in Britain from November, 1938 to September , 1939. This is a moving documentary about the courage of parents giving up their children so they can live a better life. The real participants in the Kindertransport are interviewed. They recall in vivid detail their experiences and the feelings of fear and wonder at traveling and seeing the world for the first time. This documentary brings WWII to the human details. It challenges the viewer to reflect and think about what he would do when faced with such a difficult choice. This should be required viewing for all elementary school children. Look for Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" at your local theatre. It will truly move you.

Adopted
This is one of the more moving documentaries I have seen. It accomplishes something wonderful--takes the viewer into the lives and minds of a handful of children whose parents managed to get them onto Britain's World War II Kindertransport relief effort.

After the March 1938 Anschluss, Great Britain agreed to accept all Jewish children whose care could be guaranteed, and by November 9 and 10 1938, 431 children were placed. Kristallnacht opened the floodgates, and by September 1939 another 9,354 children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia streamed into Britain with help from 5 groups including B'nai Brith and the Refugee Children's Movement; 1,850 more came via Youth Aliya and agricultural groups. More than 11,000 children were thus saved from Nazi fires that extinguished the lives of 6 million Jewish people, including 1 million children.

The statistics pale, however, next to the human faces and stories that this film provides. Viewers meet perhaps a dozen aging survivors of the trauma that both preserved their lives and separated them from their parents--usually, forever.

Not all parents could stand the strain. One woman recounts how her father pulled her out of the train window as it left the station without her and all the horrors that befell her family afterwards. Each story is more painful and enduring than the last.

These children endured the direst imaginable circumstances, and yet learned afterwards that far worse had happened to their families. There are as many layers as people here, all of whom made something of their lives. Yet the film is accessible to everyone--and especially meaningful for children who were themselves adopted. Alyssa A. Lappen

Powerful account of an untold story
The story of the Kindertransport may be unfamiliar to many, even those who consider themselves WWII buffs. What more human and moving of a story can one imagine than desperate Jews sending their children to a foreign country to be raised by non-Jews who didn't even speak their language.

The interviews are powerful in that they capture the frustration and the anxiety experienced on all sides in this true account. I especially enjoyed some of the extra features, including the personal account provided by Sir Richard Attenborough.

I would be interested in hearing further accounts of those sent to live in the English countryside during the Blitz, as suggested in the delightful film "Hope and Glory," or even hear accounts of those sent to Australia.

There is perhaps nothing more emotionally gripping than the accounts of children caught up in war.

Out of arms
How hert wrenching it must hve been for the prents ofthse 10,000 children to send their babies away. As a parent it is our duty,right and privalege to care for our babies, tokeep them safe, happy and alive. But when the only way to guarentee their survival is by sending to another country. Into someone elses arms. You make these decisions and feel your heart bleeding, aching at the mere idea of not embrcing your child for months or years, or worse, never hearing the sound of their laughter again. This must have been their hell. Listening to the stories of the surviving Kindertransport members, you can almost hear the sounds of goodby.

Good, but could have been far more.
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Mark Jonathan Harris, 2000)

It is a mark of how strongly Errol Morris' school of documentary filmmaking has had on the American documentary that talents like Morgan Freeman (who narrated Harris' first documentary) and Judi Dench (who narrates this one) are willing to lend their considerable speaking talents to documentaries where they are given so little air time. Morris showed us the power of the unnarrated documentary three decades ago in The Gates of Heaven, and has continued that trend throughout. And the strongest documentaries of the last decade have all had the same basic premise-let those who made the story tell it, and let them stand or fall on their own. It works to hilarious ends in such films as American Movie and Mule Skinner Blues, and to heartbreaking ones in Shoah. Harris twists the formula a tad by adding basic narration, but letting interviewees fill in the gaps.

I wanted to see more. The story of the Kindertransport is one largely unknown in America (and largely forgotten in Germany and England, the two ends of the metaphorical railway); while there is undeniable power in letting the Kindertransport participants themselves tell their stories, the events themselves demand a bit more explication. Lanzmann was able to use a non-narrative technique in Shoah because the events depicted therein were at least partially well-known by the time he filmed; the Kindertransport is a story that could use a lot more fleshing out from an historical perspective.

Not to say that it's a bad documentary; what's here is definitely worthwhile viewing, and probably deserving of its Best Documentary Oscar. It just could have been twice as long and achieved even more power than it did. *** ... Read more

Reviews (2)

If you think you've seen every film about the holocaust.....
For years I've read every book and watched every film I could find on this subject, but I've never seen or read anything from the perspective of this particular film. It's outstanding! You will forget who you are and you will just "jump" headfirst into history!! This film mainly deals with videos, narratives, etc. of the rescue of the Jews from the camps following the end of WWII. You come away with a better understanding of how the survivors must have felt, and how difficult life was for them even after the war. You will never again think "They survived; they were the lucky ones!" SEE IT!!

The finest documents perhaps crafted to this time...
Late one night, while in a hotel room in London, England, I happened to come across this documentary on the BBC--I have not been the same since. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, the film was the winner of the Best Documentary Feature (1997) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The musical score by Lee Holdridge is extraordinary, and highly evocative, as is Freeman's narration itself. Also featured are other great voices that impart testimonials of those that had survived the Holocaust, and who were attempting to make their way out of Germany following their miraculous survival. The documentary focuses on the plight of Holocaust survivors from their Liberation, to 1948, the year of Israel's birth--a rather unstudied period--in the visual, documentary realm. A stunning and important film that should not remain obscure.

*** ... Read more

Amazon.com

As Allied troops liberated Nazi concentration camps in the final weeks of World War II, the trials of the Jews in Europe were hardly over. The end of the war brought extreme deprivation and even, in some places, further violence directed against survivors of the Holocaust. This documentary tells the story of the struggle European Jews faced in trying to reach Palestine, which they hoped would become the new Jewish homeland. Archival footage documents how Jews literally walked across snow-clogged mountain passes to reach the Mediterranean. In Italian ports they boarded overcrowded freighters and tried to slip past the blockage of Palestine, which was then controlled by Britain. The physical hardships were only part of the problem, and The Long Way Home does a fine job of describing the complicated political dealings that involved the United Nations, the U.S. administration of Harry Truman, and, of course, the Arab states that were hostile to the very idea of the country of Israel. Drawing on letters, diaries, and oral histories of participants, as well as interviews with Holocaust survivors and those who volunteered to help the fledgling Zionist state, an inspiring human story of courage and fortitude emerges in the course of this moving and fascinating film. --Robert J. McNamara ... Read more

Reviews (5)

a powerful telling of a story that needed to be told
A film by Mark Jonathan Harris

Winner of the 1997 Academy Award for Best Documentary, "The Long Way Home" is the story of the Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and what happened after the concentration camps were liberated. This is a very important, though little told story. Much of what I have been taught glosses over this period, telling only that Americans helped to liberate the camps and then three years later the nation of Israel was formed by the United Nations. "The Long Way Home" is the story of how the Jewish survivors made it from the camps to having their own nation, and the title of the film is a very apt one. It was a long, long way home and for many of the survivors, the war did not truly end until they made it to Israel.

We are taken through the horror of the Jewish experience from the end of the concentration camps up through the creation of the state of Israel. After the camps, when we might expect that the situation of the survivors would improve dramatically, it didn't. There were so many survivors, so many "displaced persons" that the Allied Forces had to set up camps of their own to provide shelter as the survivors can get medical treatment and food. Many of these camps had the misfortune to be surrounded by barbed wire, so that some survivors remarked that it was as if they traded one camp for another and nothing had changed. From these temporary camps for "displaced persons" (as the survivors were called), the survivors were searching for a home even though they no longer had a home in their native countries. Finding passage to Palestine was just as difficult.

Somehow I naively assumed that after the war the survivors had an easier time in founding Israel and finally finding peace in their lives (whatever peace that was left to be found), but this film shows the Jewish people in a constant struggle even as nations that had fought to help free them from the concentration camps turned their backs on the Jewish people. This is a powerful, powerful story and the documentary does it justice. I don't know what other documentaries came out in 1997, but I can scarcely imagine one that is nearly as good as this one. Highly recommended, and for anyone who has an interest in this topic, or the stories that came out of World War II and the Holocaust.

The story of the Second Exodus after World War II
This 1997 Academy Award-winning documentary presents the lives of Holocaust survivors from the end of World War II in 1945 to the founding of the state of Israel three years later. In the interim period the survivors were moved into "Displaced Persons" camps and lived in a strange sort of limbo until they were finally permitted to immigrate to Israel or the United States. Basically, this is the story of Jewish survivors again wandering in the wilderness, albeit one made by man, before finally finding the Promised Land. This is an often ignored period in the history of the Jewish people and while and at least this documentary provides a historical record. A fascinating documentary. "The Long Way Home" features narration by Morgan Freeman, Ed Asner Martin Landau, Helen Slater and others. Directed by Mark Jonathan Harris would won another Oscar in 2000 for "Into The Arms Of Strangers - Stories Of The Kindertransport,"

Great movie - but where are the subtitles?
Great movie. A part of history that I didn't know about, even though I'm Jewish and nearly 50 years old. But ... There Are NO Subtitles OR Closed-Captioning. This is inexcusable, to me, especially since many older people who will have a personal interest in this film (like my parents) have hearing problems and rely on subtitles and CC when viewing TV or movies. So be forewarned, if you are one who needs subtitles.

What a great story...
This is one excellent and very moving film. Though it is a documentary, it is gripping in its telling of the history of the Jewish refugees in the post 2nd World War years, until the creation of the state of Israel. It makes it understood, I think, even to those that are not very familiar with the subject matter. It's very good for a history class and the people interviewed are unique in that they really make you feel how they felt back then, over 50 years ago. The closure is also extremely potent, as it gives another dimension to this story of the Holocaust and the fight for a homeland. From an almost complete annihilation of a nation of a 3 thousands years of history, to be revived in our day and age - it gives the story depth I rarely seen in previous documentaries. Morgan Freeman's excellent narration, with voices of fine actors and especially with the participation of excellent witness who can tell their story in such an engaging way make this a gripping history lesson. Though made by "our team" (two Jews, one of them being a Rabbi...) it maintains a fair standing in the delicate issues of the Jewish-Arab conflict in Palestine. One cannot stop and wonder how the same story may look so trivial in a day-to-day life. A movie like this simply makes it clearer. I actually got several insightful observations that were really new to me. Note Clark Clifford, a White House counsel at the time in the Truman administration. He hardly has a voice by now, but he is as vivid in his details as he would be telling the details of one of the most important story of his life. And perhaps it was for him. This one doesn't get a 5 star simply because I reserve that to films that are truly innovative in their story telling, craftsmanship or in their bold statement. This one makes neither, but nevertheless, it's a great classic-style documentary film.

Excellent post-war primer (from 45-48)
This is a terrific primer that takes you on a course of what happened from the end of WWII until the UN voted for recognizing the existance of a state Israel (bascially 1945 thru 1948). There are interviews from various people who were close to the events of this period, as well as decent B&W stills, news archives and films showing otherwise lost archives. It is well produced, and worth every penny. I watched this around the same time I watched The Sorrow and the Pity and the PBS production of 50 Years War - Israel & The Arabs. The Long Way Home DVD fills in more historical information about how the Jews were viewed and treated just after WWII, especially by the US, the English government and the radicals of Poland. This is a must (as are the two other titles I mentioned in this review) for anyone who wants to better understand this topic and the obstacles the Jewish people ran into in trying to build their own homeland. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Heartrending and Powerful
I saw this award winning documentary at the Palm Springs Film Festival. It traces the journey of the holocaust survivors from the concentration camps of Germany to the beginning of Israel. Near the opening a large headline flashes across the screen with the words, "Dachau 1945." A scene follows which my father, who was there, described to me many years ago. That, like many other scenes in the film show little known or unknown facts and images that will both inspire and haunt viewers for a long time to come. As we face the ravages of war and the domination of the weak by the powerful and greedy once more I wish everyone could see this moving film and learn to open their hearts and minds to the suffering and courage of others.

Incredible, astounding, unimaginable horror.. ending in hope
This is one of the most marvalous portrayals of any historical event, holocaust or otherwise. I watched this film last night, having borrowed it from the library, and I can't get my mind to steer from it. I will be buying now from Amazon, and I feel that I must have it to show to classes (I'm a History Prof. at a community college) or anyione else who I can tempt into a postition before a TV set.

I must conclude by commenting that its greatest asset is in the the effort to present doucuments and accounts from "common" folk, the real victims.

The serendipitous viewing that changed my life...
Late one night, while in a hotel room in London, England, I happened to come across this documentary on the BBC and have not been the same since. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, the film was the winner of the Best Documentary Feature (1997)by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ("Oscar"). The musical score by Lee Holdridge is nothing short of extraordinary as is Freeman's narration. Also featured are other great voices that impart testimonials of those that had survived the Holocaust, and who were attempting to make their way out of Germany following their miraculous survival. The documentary focuses on the plight of Holocaust survivors from their Liberation, to 1948, the year of Israel's birth--a rather unstudied period--at least in the visual, documentary realm. A stunning and indispensable film. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

into the arms of strangers is a wonderful documentary
I saw "Into the Arms of Strangers: stories of the Kindertransport " in New Orleans at the Jewish Film Festival. This documentary chronicles the Kindertransport, a massive releif effor sponsored by Britain in which Jewish children from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria were welcome in Britain from November, 1938 to September , 1939. This is a moving documentary about the courage of parents giving up their children so they can live a better life. The real participants in the Kindertransport are interviewed. They recall in vivid detail their experiences and the feelings of fear and wonder at traveling and seeing the world for the first time. This documentary brings WWII to the human details. It challenges the viewer to reflect and think about what he would do when faced with such a difficult choice. This should be required viewing for all elementary school children. Look for Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" at your local theatre. It will truly move you.

Adopted
This is one of the more moving documentaries I have seen. It accomplishes something wonderful--takes the viewer into the lives and minds of a handful of children whose parents managed to get them onto Britain's World War II Kindertransport relief effort.

After the March 1938 Anschluss, Great Britain agreed to accept all Jewish children whose care could be guaranteed, and by November 9 and 10 1938, 431 children were placed. Kristallnacht opened the floodgates, and by September 1939 another 9,354 children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia streamed into Britain with help from 5 groups including B'nai Brith and the Refugee Children's Movement; 1,850 more came via Youth Aliya and agricultural groups. More than 11,000 children were thus saved from Nazi fires that extinguished the lives of 6 million Jewish people, including 1 million children.

The statistics pale, however, next to the human faces and stories that this film provides. Viewers meet perhaps a dozen aging survivors of the trauma that both preserved their lives and separated them from their parents--usually, forever.

Not all parents could stand the strain. One woman recounts how her father pulled her out of the train window as it left the station without her and all the horrors that befell her family afterwards. Each story is more painful and enduring than the last.

These children endured the direst imaginable circumstances, and yet learned afterwards that far worse had happened to their families. There are as many layers as people here, all of whom made something of their lives. Yet the film is accessible to everyone--and especially meaningful for children who were themselves adopted. Alyssa A. Lappen

Powerful account of an untold story
The story of the Kindertransport may be unfamiliar to many, even those who consider themselves WWII buffs. What more human and moving of a story can one imagine than desperate Jews sending their children to a foreign country to be raised by non-Jews who didn't even speak their language.

The interviews are powerful in that they capture the frustration and the anxiety experienced on all sides in this true account. I especially enjoyed some of the extra features, including the personal account provided by Sir Richard Attenborough.

I would be interested in hearing further accounts of those sent to live in the English countryside during the Blitz, as suggested in the delightful film "Hope and Glory," or even hear accounts of those sent to Australia.

There is perhaps nothing more emotionally gripping than the accounts of children caught up in war.

Out of arms
How hert wrenching it must hve been for the prents ofthse 10,000 children to send their babies away. As a parent it is our duty,right and privalege to care for our babies, tokeep them safe, happy and alive. But when the only way to guarentee their survival is by sending to another country. Into someone elses arms. You make these decisions and feel your heart bleeding, aching at the mere idea of not embrcing your child for months or years, or worse, never hearing the sound of their laughter again. This must have been their hell. Listening to the stories of the surviving Kindertransport members, you can almost hear the sounds of goodby.

Good, but could have been far more.
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Mark Jonathan Harris, 2000)

It is a mark of how strongly Errol Morris' school of documentary filmmaking has had on the American documentary that talents like Morgan Freeman (who narrated Harris' first documentary) and Judi Dench (who narrates this one) are willing to lend their considerable speaking talents to documentaries where they are given so little air time. Morris showed us the power of the unnarrated documentary three decades ago in The Gates of Heaven, and has continued that trend throughout. And the strongest documentaries of the last decade have all had the same basic premise-let those who made the story tell it, and let them stand or fall on their own. It works to hilarious ends in such films as American Movie and Mule Skinner Blues, and to heartbreaking ones in Shoah. Harris twists the formula a tad by adding basic narration, but letting interviewees fill in the gaps.

I wanted to see more. The story of the Kindertransport is one largely unknown in America (and largely forgotten in Germany and England, the two ends of the metaphorical railway); while there is undeniable power in letting the Kindertransport participants themselves tell their stories, the events themselves demand a bit more explication. Lanzmann was able to use a non-narrative technique in Shoah because the events depicted therein were at least partially well-known by the time he filmed; the Kindertransport is a story that could use a lot more fleshing out from an historical perspective.

Not to say that it's a bad documentary; what's here is definitely worthwhile viewing, and probably deserving of its Best Documentary Oscar. It just could have been twice as long and achieved even more power than it did. *** ... Read more