Shanghai Ghetto (2002)

82% of critics liked it
(44 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(427 ratings)

In the late 1930s, as the Nazis tightened their grip on Europe and the fate of Germany's Jewish population began to look increasingly grim, many Jews began seeking refuge wherever they could find it. However, with Europe no longer safe and passage to Great Britain or the United States frequently… More In the late 1930s, as the Nazis tightened their grip on Europe and the fate of Germany's Jewish population began to look increasingly grim, many Jews began seeking refuge wherever they could find it. However, with Europe no longer safe and passage to Great Britain or the United States frequently unavailable, many were forced to seek out other destinations; one unexpected haven turned out to be Shanghai, which was willing to take in the refugees. However, with the Chinese city under Japanese occupation following the Sino-Japanese war, Jews were forced into a squalid tumbledown ghetto known as Hong Kew, and treated with little respect by the ruling forces. But despite the fact the Japanese went out of their way to make life difficult for the refugees, the people of Shanghai, themselves familiar with violent treatment by outside political forces, for the most part embraced the new settlers, and many of the refugees regarded the people of Shanghai with tremendous gratitude. The Shanghai Ghetto is a documentary which examines this often overlooked footnote in the history of World War II; survivors of the Hong Kew ghetto share their memories of the experience, while war historians discuss the impotence of the Shanghai refugees. Actor Martin Landau narrates. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Amir Mann, Dana Janklowicz-Mann
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Sep 27, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Jan 25, 2005
Studio: Menemsha

Critic Reviews

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
Even if it offers nothing cinematic, the story alone is important, and interesting, enough to warrant seeing.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
It's incredible the number of stories the Holocaust has generated. Just when you think that every possible angle has been exhausted by documentarians, another new film emerges with yet another remarkable yet shockingly little-known perspective.
Tom Long, Detroit News
The mix of such fascinating events with the memories of those who endured them is undeniably compelling, even if much of what's described here has been described for decades.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Fairly artless even by the standards of talking-heads documentaries, Shanghai Ghetto still proves fascinating.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The film is a worthy addition to the vast catalogue of Holocaust cinema but too narrowly focused on the experiences of the refugees, to the exclusion of Chinese and Japanese sources.
Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
A documentary that is stirring and enlightening.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A worthy educational reminder of how many strange stories grew out of the Holocaust experience.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
A sad but inspirational story that needs to be told and should be seen.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
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.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Shanghai Ghetto should be applauded for finding a new angle on a tireless story, but you might want to think twice before booking passage.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
An absorbing documentary.
Mary Brennan, Seattle Times
Shanghai Ghetto, much stranger than any fiction, brings this unknown slice of history affectingly to life.
William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The film is delicately narrated by Martin Landau and directed with sensitivity and skill by Dana Janklowicz-Mann.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
The strength of the film comes not from any cinematic razzle-dazzle but from its recovery of an historical episode that, in the simple telling, proves simultaneously harrowing and uplifting.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
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.

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Cast

Martin Landau
as Narrator

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