Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Lamont Johnson

Writers:

Thurston B. Clarke (book)
Gerald Green (writer)

Release Date:

8 April 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat responsible for saving thousands of lives from the Nazi Holocaust. |

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Diplomat | Holocaust | Historical | Population

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Richard Chamberlain	...	Raoul Wallenberg
Alice Krige	...	Baroness Lisl Kemeny
Kenneth Colley	...	Adolph Eichmann
Melanie Mayron	...	Sonja Kahn
Stuart Wilson	...	Baron Gabor Kemeny
Bibi Andersson	...	Maj. von Dardel
David Robb	...	Per Anger
Mark Rylance	...	Nikki Fodor
Ralph Arliss	...	Teicholz
Keve Hjelm	...	Jacob Wallenberg
Jimmy Nail	...	Vilmos
Olaf Pooley	...	Tibor Moritz
Georgia Slowe	...	Hannah Moritz
Guy Deghy	...	Adm. Nikolas Horthy
Curt Lowens	...	Dieter Wisleceny

Runtime:

200 min

Country:

USA | Yugoslavia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Dick Berg-Stonehenge Productions

Movie Connections:

Version of God afton, Herr Wallenberg - En Passionshistoria från verkligheten (1990)

Wallenberg: A Hero for All Seasons ****

Super outstanding film dealing with the exploits of Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. He saved a great number of Hungarian Jews marked for extermination during the Holocaust.

Richard Chamberlain was never better in any of his mini-series. Proudly nicknamed the king of mini-series, Chamberlain etched an unforgettable portrayal of this hero for all times.

The story begins as Chamberlain, a young Swedish college student from an affluent family, mocks Adolf Hitler. Truth be told, the world didn't know the horrors that this all-time modern madman would heap on modern civilization.

How Chamberlain (Wallenberg) ran with Swedish documents and passed them out to Hungarian Jews was memorable. Instantaneously, the Hungarian Jews were Swedish citizens and therefore protected under Swedish authority.

Remember the miracle when, at the end of the war, many Hungarian Jews lost their protection and were placed in a barn that the Nazis were ready to blow up. Who can forget their faces as they huddled together and chanted the "shema" to sanctify the al-mighty's name? It would be left to Wallenberg to rescue them at the last minute from certain death.

Needless to say, the world was a much poorer place when Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviets,imprisoned, and never heard from again.

He is certainly a leading member of the righteous-those Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the darkest period of history in this century.

Chamberlain gave a phenomenal performance which will long be remembered.