The Ninth Day (2004)

 The heart of darkness: Dachau
How would you have fared at Dachau? One little known fact about the death camp was that there were numerous priests who were condemned to the camp, and this film is the true story of one of them.

The cruelty of the Nazi guards is horrifying. They starved, beat, and worked the priests to death. In one scene the guards build a cross and then, after crowning a priest with thorns, they crucify him.

The actor who plays Father Kremer is pitch perfect. His face seems ravaged by pain and starvation. Then, incredibly, he is given a nine day leave of absence from the camp. And he will have to chose between his faith and freedom.

An incredible movie. Intelligent, absorbing, and shocking. April 10, 2008

 An absorbing Holocaust drama
I have seen this movie twice and both times scenes in the movie haunted me for days. A powerful movie with very little dialogue but with powerful scenes. The water in the pipe story reminded me of something I read by Primo Levi. Ulrich Matthes's portrayal of Henri Kremer has to be seen. His facial expressions and physicality brilliantly match the struggles of his character. A movie you won't soon forget.
March 3, 2008

 WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR??
The film begins in the Dachau concentration camp, one of the most brutal. We stay there long enough to meet Father Henri Kremer and his fellow clergy prisoners and to experience the day to day brutality and persecution they endure. One day, Henri is asked to follow the guard. Fearing the worst, a fellow pastor was just hung from a cross, he heads toward the area where the crosses are set up. Instead, he is redirected to the Commandant's office where, to his utter amazement, he is given his release. He boards the train to his home in Luxembourg. Trudging his way home in the snow from the station, he is picked up by the head of the Gestapo, Herr Gebhardt and told to report to his office promptly in the morning where he will discover, it's not a release he was given but a nine day pass. So begins Day one of nine in which he is to persuade the Bishop of Luxembourg to cooperate with the Nazis or he and his fellow clergy will be transferred to a death camp in the east. Will Father Kremer compromise his faith to save his and the others' lives? Every day he must report his progress to Gebhardt, personally, who uses every psychological trick he knows to persuade Henri to cooperate. Gebhardt is really Evil incarnate. It is a showdown between religion that would use power to dominate and control versus faith that seeks to serve and to love. It is the ultimate showdown of good and evil-the one with the weapons and the power and the one with love and faith. This is a powerful story that never lets up. It is intense to the end. What would you do in the same situation? Do you believe anything that you would be willing to die for? WWW.LUSREVIEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM
December 22, 2007

 a searing portrayal
of life in Dachau and occupied Luxembourg. There are no absolute, clear-cut answers for Father Kremer (brilliantly acted by Ulrich Matthes). The film is an exceptional examination of the consciences and actions of two men in particular, Kremer and Gephardt (very well-played by August Diehl). A stark and sometimes brutal piece, I cannot imagine that a person could be unchanged after seeing it. Americans could learn much from this film -- it takes enormous courage to look at ourselves with such brutal honesty. The German filmmaker, Schlöndorff, clearly knows what that means....and isn't afraid of it, perhaps because that's the
only way we learn anything genuine about ourselves. January 23, 2007

 Unique and Excellent
This is an awsome true story about a Catholic priest and his fellow clergy that suffered persecution in the nazi consentration camps during WWII. It depicts the battle of wills between the persecuter and the persecuted. The acting is superb and its a good production. I recommend this dvd to all. It gives a lesson of heroism in the midst of despair, very dramatic and educational. Its hard to find good films of this kind. It is unique and worth the price. November 16, 2006

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