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HTF DVD REVIEW: Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Matt Hough


Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story
Directed by  Lamont Johnson

Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 1985
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1  
Running Time: 188 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English, French
Subtitles:  SDH, French

MSRP:  $ 16.99


Release Date: April 5, 2011

Review Date: March 27, 2011

 

 

The Film

4/5

 

A Holocaust story as moving and as ultimately triumphant as the one portrayed in Schindler’s List, Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story recreates another moment in time where one person’s concern for humanity was responsible for the saving of many thousands of lives. As a television miniseries, the program doesn’t have the depth or overriding gravitas that Steven Spielberg threaded throughout his Holocaust epic, but the intrinsic story here is just as fascinating as in Spielberg’s masterwork, and many of the performances are equally as absorbing and memorable.

 

In the last year of World War II, the Germans have moved their focus into the last European country with a Jewish population numbering in the hundreds of thousands, Hungary, and are proceeding with their systematic elimination of as many of them as they can cram into freight cars and transport away to the concentration camps elsewhere in Europe. Overseeing the mission in Hungary is Adolph Eichmann (Kenneth Colley), a bloodthirsty and ruthless martinet who, even in the face of the Nazi’s inevitable defeat, is determined to leave as large a legacy of human destruction as he can carry out. Into the fray comes Swedish dilettante Raoul Wallenberg (Richard Chamberlain) who is as determined to save as many Jews as Eichmann is to eliminate them. The face-off between the two men becomes a chess game where with each winning salvo by Wallenberg is met with an equally cunning counter maneuver by Eichmann.

 

Gerald Green’s script does a good job of balancing the personal stories of Wallenberg, his aide Per Anger (David Robb), staff secretary Sonja Kahn (Melanie Mayron), and the Baron (Stuart Wilson) and Baroness (Alice Krige) Kemeny with the larger aspects of the German occupation of Budapest and the ever-advancing armies of the Russians making saving the lives of the Jews not only a game of one-upmanship between Eichmann and Wallenberg but a question of time as the Germans’ control of the city comes to an end. There is also another story thread of the Hungarian underground working against the Germans, but this aspect of the script is given the least attention and seems unsatisfying in its incompleteness (the characters are appealing and could actually have fronted their own Holocaust story). Director Lamont Johnson, who won an Emmy for his direction of this ambitious miniseries, handles well the personal triumphs and tragedies along with the expert stagings of larger scenes of brutality by the Germans and the mistreatment of the Jews in the ghettos. Yes, the love-from-afar affair between Wallenberg and Baroness Kemeny seems overly noble and predictable, but there is no denying the emotional investment here as lives are lost or saved sometimes on a whim and sometimes by overt calculation.

 

Richard Chamberlain, who was in the midst of a ten-year reign as king of the miniseries, turns in another stalwart performance as the Swedish playboy who finally finds his life’s calling once he embarks on this diplomatic suicide mission. He has effected a slight Swedish accent which he maintains throughout and while he might be a tad too old for the role, acquits himself admirably in the part. As the spoiled baroness who comes to know about the real suffering of her countrymen once her husband gains the office of foreign minister under a new German-approved Hungarian régime, Alice Krige has some luminous moments while Stuart Wilson as her weak-willed husband gains in performance strength as his character succumbs to his own moral weaknesses. Kenneth Colley’s viperish Adolph Eichmann earns special marks for cunning complexity without going overboard with the villainy. Mark Rylance as Nikki Fodor, one of the leaders of the resistance, has star potential as he plays a “street rat” who impersonates German officers and looks out for his fellow Jews out in the open.

 

 

Video Quality

4/5

 

The miniseries is presented in its television aspect ratio of 1.33:1, but you’ll be impressed with the strength and solidity of the image. Colors are excellently saturated, and sharpness is often outstanding and never less than good. Flesh tones are likewise true and very appealing. The image is slightly hampered by some sparkling speckles which happen early on and with a occasional bit of dust here and there throughout the lengthy running time. Black levels are also not the transfer’s strongest point appearing only a tad above average. The miniseries has been divided into two parts, the first part having 7 chapters and the second part having 8 (the eighth chapter holding the final credits).

 

 

Audio Quality

4/5

 

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. The well recorded dialogue, sound effects, and music score by Ernest Gold are all mixed skillfully to make a strong mono track. Dialogue is never drowned out by the gunfire or bombs exploding, and there is more than adequate fidelity to be heard in this strong sound mix. There are moments of soft flutter to be heard in quieter scenes, but they’re not overly intrusive.

 

 

Special Features

1/5

 

The disc includes the broadcast preview for the second half of the miniseries (1 minute) as well as the recap of part one (¾ minute), both of which are user choices and do not play automatically.

 

 

In Conclusion

4/5 (not an average)

 

The winner of four 1985 Emmy Awards, Wallenberg: A Hero’s Story is every bit as important a tale of the saving of thousands of Jews as Spielberg’s far more renowned and celebrated Schindler’s List (and appeared eight years before Spielberg’s celebrated work). This DVD release shows the miniseries in its best possible light and comes highly recommended.

 

 

 

Matt Hough

Charlotte, NC

 

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