Never Forget (1991)

One Of The Best Projects L. Nimoy ever did! Fantastic!

A beautifully acted and written Movie about Mel M. and his family as they fight the Holocaust deniers. Many touching scenes as the Marmelsteins have to deal with the insesitivity of those who continue to persecute Jews. I would love to see this given a nice DVD treatment with some Interviews and perhaps some documentary about the current state of those who deny the Holocaust. Are these idiots still among us? July 17, 2006

Great Movie! Brilliant Acting and Directing!

An outstanding movie of gripping determination and bulldog tenacity!

Leonard Nimoy and Blythe Danner play Mr. & Mrs. Mel Mermelstein, a true-life California couple, thrown into the spotlight of judicial history in the 1980's. He is a Hungarian-born Jew, sole-survivor of his family's extermination at Auchwitz, and she is a Southern Baptist from Tennessee. Their four children are good kids, typical Americans, with just enough spunk and orneriness to irritate each other, but enough love and class to pull together when it counts.

When challenged by a hate group to prove that Jews were actually gassed at Auchwitz, Mel Mermelstein rises to the occasion with the support of his wife and children, in spite of the dangers to himself, his business, and his family.

Dabney Coleman provides Mel's legal help (pro bono) as a lawyer, originally a Roman Catholic from Texas, and brilliantly and believably fits out a role that is my personal favorite among any role he has ever played.

Leonard Nimoy is brilliant as always, and aside from playing Golda Meir's husband opposite Ingrid Bergman, if there was ever a role that shattered his Spock image, this would be it. (Not that I dislike Spock. On the contrary!) Nimoy plays a man who is empassioned, vulnerable to an extent, but tenaciously determined to prove the hate groups to be liars.

Why so committed to such a course? Because before Mermelstein's father died in Auchwitz, he commissioned Mel and his brother (who died shortly thereafter) to "Never Forget" what happened, and to bear witness to the facts of history. Mel Mermelstein did just that, and the United States finally took Judicial Notice of the truth of the Holocaust, some 40 years after WWII.

A great movie! (I taped mine off of TNT a few years ago, when it aired this movie in timed connection with the network premeir of Schindler's List, and this airing was hosted by Leonard Nimoy. I have since worn out my tape. I plan to buy a professional copy when the price drops.) November 28, 2000

An important recounting of judicial recognition of history

In the movie "Never Forget", Leonard Nimoy portrays Holocaust survivor Mel Mermelstein, the only member of his family to have survived internment at the death camp at Auschwitz. The movie is a recounting of events that began in 1980 when an organization called the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) sent a letter to Mr. Mermelstein offering $50,000 for proof that Jews were gassed at Auschwitz. This is a very well made movie, originally airing on the TNT channel, presenting facts and information that I had been unaware of, such as the amount of literature that has been printed trying to dispel the Holocaust as a hoax. Blythe Danner portrays Mrs. Mermelstein, showing a woman committed to supporting her husband, but torn when events occur that threaten the safety of her family as a whole. Dabney Coleman gives a powerful performance as the lawyer, William Cox, who represents Mr. Mermelstein in his legal battle with the IHR. I found this movie to be very moving and thought-provoking, presenting the story without glossing over the facts, or belittling the very real struggle this particular survivor had between preserving the memory of his parents and sibling, and reconciling that with maintaining the relationship with his own family. January 5, 2000

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