Barnes & Noble

The most provocative motion picture of 2002, The Grey Zone, offers a painful, unblinking look at the Holocaust, forcing viewers to ask themselves, How far would I be willing to go to stay alive? That’s the question that faced members of the Sonderkommandos, a group of Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp during the closing months of World War II. In return for herding their fellow Jews into the gas chambers and disposing of the ashes afterward, these inmates were given a few creature comforts and four extra months to live -- months that might mean survival, with the Allies closing in on the embattled Nazis. The excruciating dilemma faced by these prisoners is made apparent in searing detail by writer-director Tim Blake Nelson (O), who based the script on his own play. Nelson’s exemplary ensemble cast includes David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, and David Chandler as the Sonderkommando leaders; Natasha Lyonne and Mira Sorvino as female prisoners tortured for their role in the sabotage of two crematoriums; and Harvey Keitel as the alcoholic Nazi officer entrusted with overseeing Sonderkommando activities. Nelson offers no easy answers to the primary question. Instead, he focuses on the choices made by doomed prisoners who wrestle with their consciences, knowing that in the end their actions might only forestall death for a little while. Make no mistake, The Grey Zone is a bleak, despairing film devoid of false hope or pat solutions. But it’s also a profoundly moving and thoughtful tale that deserves to be seen. Ed Hulse

Barnes & Noble

I have seen a lot of films about the Holocaust, but I have never seen one so immediate, unblinking and painful in its materials. Roger Ebert

All Movie Guide

Actor, writer, and director Tim Blake Nelson adapts this grim look at the holocaust from his own play, based on Miklos Nyiszli's book, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account. The film centers on the sonderkommando: Jewish concentration camp prisoners whose job was to herd their fellow Jews into the gas chamber, and to dispose of the bodies following the execution. In return, these prisoners received food and a little more time before their own executions. As the members of the sonderkommando struggle to orchestrate what would be the only armed insurrection in Auschwitz, a group of them discover a 14-year-old girl who somehow survived the gas chamber. The girl becomes a symbol for their own spiritual salvation and they become obsessed with keeping the girl alive, even if it endangers the uprising that could save thousands. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. Jonathan Crow

New York Observer

From both a great and a terrible story, Mr. Nelson has made a film that is an undeniably worthy and devastating experience. Rex Reed

USA Today

Nelson ... invests this unusual Holocaust drama with dramatic intensity that in no way cheapens its subject matter. Mike Clark

Product Details

• UPC: 031398823827
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Español
• Time: 1:48:00
• Sales Rank: 9,325

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