This very heavy miniseries chronicles Martin Gray's memoir, and while it's very well put together, it's pretty tough to watch. This isn't one of those "let's remember the Holocaust" movies that's inspiring because we know everyone makes it out alive. In fact, in the beginning of the series, the audience is shown that, in fact, Martin's loving wife and children have been killed in a terrible fire. He weeps and places a gun to his head, then decides to put his life story into a tape recorder first. The rest of the miniseries is a flashback. I told you it's heavy.
If you're a Michael York fan and appreciate whenever he was given a heavy dramatic role to sink his teeth into, you might want to try this one. He plays the adult Martin, and you might be surprised and disappointed when the flashback uses another actor, Jacques Penot, as the main Martin in the flashbacks who lives through the Holocaust. However, there's a very cute twist (the only cute part of this entire movie): Michael also plays his own father during the WWII sections. So fear not, we'll see (and hear, since he narrates it) a lot of him.
You might be expecting it, but you might not be able to imagine it, there's a lot of violence in this miniseries. With all these awful, unspeakable horrors put into one man's memoir, it's really a wonder how he made it out alive. This really isn't an enjoyable story to watch. It's only for those who appreciate getting immersed in this time period, and for those who can stomach a lot of atrocities.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
