Sobibor (film)

''Sobibor'' (russian: Собибор) is a 2018 Russian war drama film co-written, directed by and starring Konstantin Khabensky. The picture also stars Christopher Lambert and was released on 3 May 2018 in Russia. It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

The film is based on the Sobibor revolt which occurred in 1943 in German-occupied Poland. The main character of the movie is the Jewish-Soviet soldier Alexander Pechersky, who was a lieutenant in the Red Army. In October 1943, he was deported to the Sobibor death camp, where Jews were being exterminated in gas chambers. In just three weeks, Pechersky planned an uprising with prisoners from Poland and other locations around Western Europe. This uprising was partly successful, allowing roughly 300 prisoners to escape, of whom roughly 60 survived the war.

Cast

* Aleksandr Ilyin — Andrey
* Konstantin Khabenskiy – Alexander 'Sasha' Pechersky
* Christopher Lambert – Karl Frenzel – Hanna (Cameo appearance)
* Wolfgang Cerny – Gustav Wagner
* - Johann Niemann
* Mariya Kozhevnikova — Selma
* Philippe Reinhardt – Siegfried Graetschus
* Felice Jankell – Luca
* Mindaugas Papinigis - Berg
* Saulius Balandis - Josef Wölf
* Dirk Martens - Rudolf Beckmann

Production

Initially the project was titled "Legend of the Escape". In early reports, Andrei Malyukov was credited as director, but at a press conference in September 2017, it was revealed that Khabensky in fact directed the film.

Principal photography took place near Vilnius, Lithuania.

Release

Samuel Goldwyn Films has secured North American distribution rights. The U.S. release date is April 2, 2019.

Response

Box office

''Sobibor'' grossed $0 in North America and $5.1 million in other territories, against a production budget of $2.4 million.

Inaccuracy

Pechersky was captured by the Germans in October 1941, not in 1943. Sobibor was the site of one of two (not the only) successful uprisings by Jewish ''Sonderkommando'' prisoners during Operation Reinhard. The revolt at Treblinka extermination camp on 2 August 1943 resulted in up to 100 escapees.

There are several inaccuracies with the place and cause of death of the particular ''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' members killed in the revolt.

# '' SS-Untersturmführer'' Johann Niemann was not killed at the camp's armory as shown in the movie but rather in the tailor's workshop. Another inaccuracy with Niemann (played by Maximilian Dirr) is that the rank of his uniform. In the movie Niemann is ranked as '' SS-Oberscharführer'' however his real rank should be of an ''SS-Untersturmführer''.
# '' SS-Unterscharführer'' Walter "Ryba" Hochberg is referred to as "Berg" in the movie, following Alexander Pechersky's mistaken recollection. However, Hochberg's death occurred in the camp's garage rather than the tailor's workshop.
# '' SS-Oberscharführer'' Karl Frenzel. He is also shown in some scenes as wearing the Baltic Cross, an unofficial ''Freikorps'' decoration. The real Frenzel was born in 1911, and so was unable to have earned any of these decorations.

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .

See also

* ''Escape from Sobibor'' — 1987 television film about the same topic.
* List of submissions to the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Russian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

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{{Russian submission for Academy Awards

2018 films
Russian war drama films
Russian historical drama films
Russian biographical drama films
Drama films based on actual events
World War II films based on actual events
2018 war drama films
2018 biographical drama films
2018 drama films
Russian World War II films
Films shot in Lithuania
Films about Jewish resistance during the Holocaust