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Movies / On DVD / Shanghai Ghetto
Shanghai Ghetto

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Shanghai Ghetto (2002)

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Reviews Counted:44

Fresh:36

Rotten:8

Average Rating:6.8/10

Consensus: Explores a little-known piece of Holocaust history, weaving together stories of overlapping cultures and their coexistence under the pretext of a war to create a touching and unusual narrative.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:Sep 27, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: In the late 1930s thousands of German Jews, fearing for their lives under Nazi rule and unable to secure entrance visas to other countries, found refuge in the Japanese-occupied city of Shanghai.... In the late 1930s thousands of German Jews, fearing for their lives under Nazi rule and unable to secure entrance visas to other countries, found refuge in the Japanese-occupied city of Shanghai. Destitute, hungry, and thrust into a strange environment, they made the best of their situation as they waited to return to Europe, little realizing the horrific toll that the ravages of war, and Nazi-orchestrated genocide, were taking on their people. This engrossing documentary from Amir Mann and Dana Janklowicz-Mann tells the tale through use of concurrently running narrative interviews with several of the men and women who grew up in the Shanghai ghetto, including Dana's father, Harold, whose dinner table reminiscences sparked the genesis of the film. From persecution and escape from Europe, through the length of the war and eventual migration to the U.S, the riveting, moving saga of these survivors comes alive through family photos, archival footage, and, most touchingly, their return visits to Shanghai and the one-room tenements they shared with their families. Narrated by Martin Landau, SHANGHAI GHETTO won the audience choice award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it premiered in 2002. [More]

Starring: Harold Janklowicz, Alfred Kohn, Betty Grebenschikoff, Sigmund Tobias

Starring: Harold Janklowicz, Alfred Kohn, Betty Grebenschikoff, Sigmund Tobias, Evelyn Pike Rubin

Director: Dana Janklowicz-Mann, Amir Mann

Director: Dana Janklowicz-Mann, Amir Mann
Producer: Dana Janklowicz-Mann, Amir Mann
Composer: Sujin Nam
Studio: Menemsha

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jan 25, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Shanghai Ghetto

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
03/07/03
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/02/03
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
09/05/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
02/07/03
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
PopMatters

This would be thoroughly engrossing if the film itself weren't an example of the most tedious brand of documentary.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/25/02
E! Online

No review available.

comment Comment
08/19/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Shanghai Ghetto would make a good primer for high school students ignorant of pre- World War II history, but in the entirety of Holocaust cinema it is a blip on the radar.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
09/27/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Shanghai Ghetto should be applauded for finding a new angle on a tireless story, but you might want to think twice before booking passage.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
06/01/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Throughout the film, the storytelling is eloquent and genuine, but the Manns' unadventurous approach ... rarely hits emotional pay dirt.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/24/02
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The problem is the needlessly poor quality of its archival prints and film footage. The images lack contrast, are murky and are frequently too dark to be decipherable.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/03
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

The documentary is much too conventional -- lots of boring talking heads, etc. -- to do the subject matter justice.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/27/02
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

It's too bad that the picture lacks a clear narrative thread and, ultimately, much of a point besides telling a weird little story in an overly familiar sort of way.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
08/20/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
11/09/04
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Provides a very moving and revelatory footnote to the Holocaust.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
10/02/02
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A Jewish WW II doc that isn't trying simply to out-shock, out-outrage or out-depress its potential audience! Who knew...

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
11/11/02
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

The film isn't especially dynamic, but it brims with insightful, poignant memories from survivors.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/31/03
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A modestly made but profoundly moving documentary.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
02/06/03
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This may not have the dramatic gut-wrenching impact of other Holocaust films, but it's a compelling story, mainly because of the way it's told by the people who were there.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
03/28/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

An absorbing documentary.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
05/23/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
 
 
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