Taglines: The Story You Haven’t Seen.
The Grey Zone tells the true story of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jew chosen by Josef Mengele to be the head pathologist at Auschwitz. Nyiszli was one of Auschwitz’s Sonderkommandos – 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. Together, the Sonderkommandos struggled 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 14-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 if doing so endangers the uprising which could save thousands. To what terrible lengths are we willing to go to save our own lives, and what in turn would we sacrifice to save the lives of others?
The Grey Zone is a 2001 film directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, and Daniel Benzali. It is based on the book Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account written by Dr. Miklós Nyiszli.[2]
The title comes from a chapter in the book The Drowned and the Saved by Holocaust survivor Primo Levi.[3] The film tells the story of the Jewish Sonderkommando XII in the Auschwitz death camp in October 1944. These prisoners were made to assist the camp’s guards in shepherding their victims to the gas chambers and then disposing of their bodies in the ovens.
The Grey Zone (2002)
Directed by: Tim Blake Nelson
Starring: David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Allan Corduner, Daniel Benzali, Natasha Lyonne, Lisa Benavides-Nelson, Shirly Brener
Screenplay by: Tim Blake Nelson
Production Design by: Maria Djurkovic
Cinematography by: Russell Lee Fine
Film Editing by: Michelle Botticelli, Tim Blake Nelson
Costume Design by: Marina Draghici
Set Decoration by: Valentina Mladenova, Dimiter Petkov
Art Direction by: Johnny Breedt, Tatiana Macdonald
Music by: Jeff Danna
MPAA Rating: R for strong holocaust violence, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: October 18, 2002
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