Grey Zone, The (2001) - Synopsis
Based on actual events, THE GREY ZONE is the staggeringly powerful story of the Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando - one of the thirteen consecutive 'Special Squads' of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of helping to exterminate fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life.
As written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson, and performed by a first rate ensemble cast including Steve Buscemi, Davis Arquette, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and Natasha Lyonne, this film chronicles the Sonderkommando's struggle to organize the only armed revolt that would ever take place at Auschwitz. As the rebellion is about to commence, a group from the unit discovers a fourteen-year-old girl who has miraculously survived a gassing. A catalyst for their desperate attempt at personal redemption, the men become obsessed with saving this one child even as doing so endangers the uprising which could save thousands.
From inside the working organs of the infamous Auschwitz death camp, this film asks to what terrible lengths we are willing to go to save our own lives, and what in turn we would sacrifice to save the lives of others.
