Long Is the Road (film)

Long Is the Road
Directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf
Marek Goldstein
Produced by Abraham Weinstein
Written by Israel Becker
Karl Georg Külb
Starring Israel Becker
Bettina Moissi
Berta Litwina
Music by Lothar Brühne
Cinematography Jack Jonilowicz
Franz Koch
Production
company
International Film Organization
Release dates
  • September 1, 1948 (1948-09-01) (Germany)
  • November 11, 1948 (1948-11-11) (US)
  • March 18, 1949 (1949-03-18) (Israel)
Running time
 77 minutes
Country Germany
Language German
Polish
Yiddish
Budget £20,000[1]

Long Is the Road (German:Lang ist der Weg) is a 1948 German drama film directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf and Marek Goldstein and starring Israel Becker, Bettina Moissi and Berta Litwina. The story examines the Holocaust from the perspective of a Polish Jewish family and a young man who is able to escape while being transported to a Concentration Camp. It was made during the summer of 1947.[2] It was the first German-made film to directly portray the Holocaust (Morituri was released earlier but made later). It was made with the support of the United States Army Information Control Division.

A major aim of the film was to lobby for Jewish survivors still living in Displaced Persons (DP) camps to be allowed to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine. It drew a comparison between the plight of the Jewish population and the sufferings of other Europeans including Germans who had recently been ethnically cleansed from the country's former Eastern Provinces and also ended up in DP camps. This was partly done through the principal character's romantic relationship with Dora, a refugee whose ethnic origin is unclear but appears to resemble an eastern refugee.

The film employs a semi-documentary technique to tell its story. Many of its themes were similar to other German rubble films of the era, but it was notably different partly because of its advocacy of an optimistic, idealistic new world in Palestine. The film only ever went on a limited release, and by the time it received its German première many of the issues which it raised about the inhabitants of DP camps had been settled with large numbers emigrating to the newly founded state of Israel.[3]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Y. M. Neiman (22 March 1949). "S'ratim" [Films]. Davar (in Hebrew). p. 4.
  2. ↑ Shandley p.101
  3. ↑ Shandley p.101

Bibliography


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