Prisoner of Paradise (2002)

82% of critics liked it
(28 reviews)
42% of users liked it
(410 ratings)

Kurt Gerron was an actor, filmmaker, and musician who rose to acclaim and stardom in Germany in the late '20s and early '30s. Gerron appeared in The Blue Angel alongside Marlene Dietrich, starred in the inaugural production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's groundbreaking The Threepenny Opera, and… More Kurt Gerron was an actor, filmmaker, and musician who rose to acclaim and stardom in Germany in the late '20s and early '30s. Gerron appeared in The Blue Angel alongside Marlene Dietrich, starred in the inaugural production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's groundbreaking The Threepenny Opera, and directed a string of successful movie musicals. Gerron, however, was also a Jew, and while he had the good sense to flee to Amsterdam after the early Nazi programs when Holland fell under Axis occupation, he was later deported back to Germany. Unable to join such colleagues as Peter Lorre and Billy Wilder in the United States, Gerron found himself using his talents acting in vile Nazi propaganda films such as Der Ewige Jude (aka The Eternal Jew), and was finally forced to direct Theresienstadt (1944, aka The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews), a remarkable bit of fabrication which portrayed one of the Third Reich's death camps as a safe haven for Jewish refugees. Gerron's reward for his hard work on the film was a one-way trip in a railroad car to a gas chamber. Prisoner of Paradise is a documentary which chronicles Gerron's remarkable and tragic life story, in which his desire to create and his need to work in the limelight led him to both betrayal and his doom. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Malcolm Clarke, Malcolm Clarke (II)
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Dec 11, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Apr 12, 2005
Studio: Odeon Films

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
A good example of a film that lets one person's life tell higher truths about a major time in human history.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
An engrossing documentary about one of the least known and most unexpected aspects of the Nazi war against the Jews.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Ggripping documentary.
Megan Lehmann, New York Post
Frustratingly superficial.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Chilling and provocative.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
A fascinating documentary.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
One of the more bizarre Holocaust stories comes to light in the impressive, handsomely made Prisoner of Paradise.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
It can be hard to conceptualize mass murder, but using the media to lie is a concept we're all quite familiar with in this day and age
Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
Directors Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender tell this story dispassionately, letting it evoke pity without asking us to see Gerron as a hero.
Kim Williamson, Boxoffice Magazine
Excels is in its interviewees and the range of its historical images and information.
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
An extraordinary documentary about the German entertainer Kurt Gerron.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
It's a testament to the power of the documentary that we're still rooting for him, even when Gerron has sold his final few shreds of decency to the devil.
Phil Hall, Film Threat
Unsatisfactory documentary that leaves too many questions unanswered.
Paul Sherman, Boston Herald
The history is frustratingly conveyed and the emphasis is out of whack in this disappointing effort.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
As a tragic example of supreme denial, Gerron, the man, will resonate with artists and laymen alike, as will this troubling documentary.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
This is one story that must be seen to be believed.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Cast

Kurt Gerron
as Himself
Ian Holm
as Narrator
Eleonore Hertzberg

See full cast

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