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Movies / On DVD / The Grey Zone
The Grey Zone

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The Grey Zone (2002)

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Reviews Counted:80

Fresh:55

Rotten:25

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: A grim and devastating tale of the Holocaust.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong holocaust violence, nudity and language

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Oct 18, 2002 Limited

Box Office: $186,080

Synopsis: Writer-director-actor Tim Blake Nelson presents THE GREY ZONE, a relentlessly bleak drama that uses one of history's most incomprehensible calamities to address the ultimate question of human... Writer-director-actor Tim Blake Nelson presents THE GREY ZONE, a relentlessly bleak drama that uses one of history's most incomprehensible calamities to address the ultimate question of human survival. Based in large part on Miklos Nyiszli's book, AUSCHWITZ: A DOCTOR'S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT, THE GREY ZONE is set in the nightmarish world of Auschwitz in the 1940s. The film tells the brutal tale of the twelfth Sonderkommando unit, Jewish prisoners who were granted a few extra months of life in return for their services in helping with the genocide of their people. While organizing a revolt against the Nazis, a group of Sonderkommandos (played with ferocious intensity by David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, David Chandler, and Steve Buscemi) discover a young girl who has somehow managed to survive the gas chamber. Risking their lives, they team up with a fellow Jew, Doctor Nyiszli (Allan Corduner), to revive the fragile youngster and redeem themselves in the process. Nelson's excruciating drama is all the more unsettling for its unflinching honesty. By placing his characters in a world suffused with death, he creates an unbearable scenario where every decision determines the fate of dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent lives. THE GREY ZONE also features deeply impassioned performances by Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, and Natasha Lyonne. [More]

Starring: David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, Allan Corduner

Starring: David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, Allan Corduner, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Natasha Lyonne, David Chandler

Director: Tim Blake Nelson

Director: Tim Blake Nelson
Screenwriter: Tim Blake Nelson
Producer: Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Tim Blake Nelson
Composer: Jeff Danna
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Mar 18, 2003

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Reviews for The Grey Zone

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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The film's clumsiness detracts from the solemnity of the story and makes even decent actors such as Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi look bad.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/18/02
E! Online
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
10/26/02
Arizona Republic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
11/18/02
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
12/13/02
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
02/01/04
FilmStew.com

The Grey Zone gives voice to a story that needs to be heard in the sea of Holocaust movies...but the film suffers from its own difficulties.

Full Review Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI) | comment Comment
10/26/02
Anita Schmaltz
Anita Schmaltz
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

Jagged, unrelenting, claustrophobically intimate.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/25/02
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

I admired the film enough to someday soon give it a second chance...

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
09/11/01
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central
N/R

every time Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne open their mouths, you think they're auditioning for a dinner theater version of Fiddler on the Roof.

Full Review Source: Bay Area Reporter | comment Comment
11/27/02
Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell
Bay Area Reporter

Though there’s a clarity of purpose and even-handedness to the film’s direction, the drama feels rigged and sluggish.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
10/21/02
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

Even in its darkest moments, a heartening defiance underlies gut-wrenching calamity.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
11/15/02
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unlike other Holocaust films, in which good and evil are always clearly delineated, Nelson has found a grey zone of ambiguous morality.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
10/11/02
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

[Nelson's] movie about morally compromised figures leaves viewers feeling compromised, unable to find their way out of the fog and the ashes.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
11/07/02
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a devastating movie to watch and impossible to forget.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
10/25/02
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

An unflinching film, The Grey Zone takes us right into the gas chambers.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
11/01/02
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
10/18/02
Cindy White
Cindy White
Hollywood.com
N/R

Russell Lee Fine's handheld camera presses you repeatedly too close to the characters' perpetual fatigue and resilience, their pains to survive when they cannot.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
11/19/02
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper

In this labor of angst, directed by actor Tim Blake Nelson from his play, standard acting and 'plot' become reductive brackets.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
10/25/02
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

As bold and unyielding as The Grey Zone stands with its historical subtext, there are a few factors detracting from the powerful message.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
11/15/02
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

Effectively feeds our senses with the chilling sights and sounds from within the camp to create a completely numbing experience.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
11/18/02
David Levine
David Levine
Filmcritic.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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Latest News for The Grey Zone

March 24, 2008: Fifth Rambo on the Fast Track?
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June 28, 2006: Bosworth and Bloom to Brave the Depression Together
Orlando Bloom and Kate Bosworth are two seriously photogenic young stars who've never worked together. That's about to change. The pair will co-star in a Depression-era drama... More...

August 23, 2005: In Other News...Natasha Lyonne, Brad 'n Jen, and Kirsten 'n Jake
According to the NY Post, American Pie star Natasha Lyonne is in the intensive care unit of New York's Beth Israel Hospital, where she is receiving treatment for Hepatitis C, a... More...

September 13, 2002: Filmed in 2000, Grey tells of the Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz forced to assist in the slaughter of their own people. These prisoners are granted an extension on life, although they must suffer through the most horrible of experiences. Opens in new window
More...

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