The Last Letter (2003)

Synopsis: In 1941, a Russian Jewish woman doctor lives in a small city in the Ukraine just seized by the Germans. She writes a last letter to her son, a famous Russian physicist who lives and works far from... In 1941, a Russian Jewish woman doctor lives in a small city in the Ukraine just seized by the Germans. She writes a last letter to her son, a famous Russian physicist who lives and works far from the front lines at a Soviet science research institute. She writes the letter a few days before she knows she and the other Jews in the city will be killed by the Germans. She speaks of her life, her relationship to her son, her love for him, her student life in Paris, her failed marriage. She recounts the reaction of her Russian and Ukrainian neighbors to the arrival of the Germans, the various responses of the Jewish community, the cruelty and horrors of the occupation, the help of some Russian neighbors, the greed and indifference of others, and her slow recognition that her Jewish heritage is more important to her than her Russian nationality or Communist ideology. The letter, with its detailed observations of daily life in the ghetto, reveals the fear, courage, frailty, compassion and dignity of this woman as she reviews her life and faces her death. -- © Zipporah Films [More]

Starring: Catherine Samie

Starring: Catherine Samie

Director: Frederick Wiseman

Director: Frederick Wiseman
Studio: Zipporah Films

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