The most important roles in the career of Ben Kingsley were those of real historical figures. The best known is Mahatma Gandhi in 1982 Richard Attenborrough’s epic, which brought him “Oscar”. The best known film in his career was Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List in which played supporting role of Itzhak Stern, and which is today considered the best known of all Holocaust films. Some sort of bridge between the two is Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, 1989 cable television biopic directed by Brian Gibson.
The plot is based on the eponymous 1967 book by Austria-based writer, activist and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, also known as the world’s best known Nazi hunter. It begins at the very end of Second World War in May 1945 when US troops liberate Mauthausen Concentration Camp in today’s Austria. Among liberated prisoners is Simon Wiesenthal (played by Ben Kingsley), Jewish architect who, despite barely surviving captivity, quickly volunteers to help Major Bill Harcourt (played by Craig T. Nelson) to identify and track not just his former captors, but also other Nazi war criminals. Wiesenthal continues with this activity even after reuniting with wife Cyla (played by Renée Soutendijk) who, unlike the rest of his families, also survived the Holocaust. They start the family but after few years US government loses interest in prosecuting Nazi war crimes. Wiesenthal has nevertheless gathered enough files to start documentation centre in Vienna and with the help of informants helps bringing many escaped Nazi war criminals to justice, including the Adolph Eichmann, notorious architect of Final Solution. His efforts, however, bring him many enemies and large parts of the public, especially in Austria, prefer to forget Nazi past and avoid embarrassment over allowing former war criminals to become prominent citizens in post-war period.
Produced by HBO, this two-part film had relatively low budget, but also had put locations of Hungary (then still Communist and nominally East Bloc country) to good use, which gave its setting unmistakably Central European flavour and lot of authenticity. Brian Gibson, English director specialised for biopics, did a solid job of compressing decades of Wiesenthal’s life into coherent narrative. He also used flashbacks for exposition, although at times those look a little bit too confusing or too “artsy”. Like with almost all biopics, some creative liberties at the expense of historic authenticity were taken, including some scenes and details that look too Hollywoodised to be part of real life. On the other hand, some of those scenes are quite powerful – like Wiesenthal’s visit to mother of young SS soldier who confessed his crimes on a deathbed and Wiesenthal trying to talk out fellow Holocaust survivor (effectively played by Jack Shepherd) from taking justice into his own hands. Wiesenthal is, of course, portrayed as saintly character who, despite failures in his life long search for justice, but Kingsley nevertheless delivers another great performance. Although little rough around the edges and inferior to most of other well-known films that dealt with the grim subject of Holocaust, Murderers Among Us should be recommended, partly because the issues of genocide, crime, punishment and forgiveness today seem as relevant as they were in the 20th Century.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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