TERROR from page 73
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to the je wish News
-
sraeli-born actress NIB Avital
says trising was among the
most affecting of er film
and theater experiences.
The 29-year-old Avital won the
Israeli equivalent of an Oscar for
her work in the movie Over the
Ocean. Moving to the United States
in 1993, she has appeared in films
such as Stalgate, Polish Wedding,
Arabian Nights and Kissing a Fool,
as well as on television's Law
Order: Special Victims Unit.
In Uprising, she exchanges her
usual sultry persona for the role
of Devorah, a devoted freedom
fighter armed with one primal
ambition survival.
As an Israeli, Avital had already
experienced a life scripted in sur-
vival maneuvers. "When I
thought about this movie, I was
in pain,' she said. "It connected
to my memories of nay childhood
in Israel, where I saw and knew
so many survivors of the war."
Part of her preparation was
returning to Israel and conduct-
ing interviews with survivors.
"When we were rehearsing, I
turned to Simha "Kazik" Rotem,
one of the actual Holocaust sur-
vivors serving as an adviser on the
film, who had been in the ghetto.
I asked him, quietly, in Hebrew,
whether Devorah was his love
interest in real life and what she
was actually like," Avital said.
Expecting to hear a harrowing
tale of hell and torment, the actress
was told something entirely differ-
ent "He said she was happy"
Michael Elkin u entertainment
editor of the Jewish Exponent
7. 1
1 1 / 2
2001
76
Not even the Nazis could elimi-
nate the need to see sun through
the ash-filled haze of the Holocaust,
she realized. "That's when I knew
what I had to do with the charac-
,,
ter, she said, "when I really got it."
Since Sept. 11, Avital has faced
many questions about how peo-
ple in her native land survive
under the stress of terror and
war. Her advice is to appreciate
what you have when you have it.
"I hear people saying, 'Now I
understand how strong you
[Israelis] are."
Joining-Avital on screen as the
young Warsaw Ghetto firebrand
Totha is Leeke Sobieski.
The New York-born actress has
amassed a long list of film credits
in her 19 years, including Angie
2 jungle, Never Been Kissed, Eyes
VVide Shut and Joyride. She plays
the lead in the recently released
My _First Mister.
Despite the macabre and mur-
derous themes of some of her
earlier films, Sobieski still found
the horror depicted in Uprising
"incomprehensible."
In the miniseries, Tosia watch-
es as her parents are carted off to
a concentration camp. To the
great benefit of her compatriots,
and at risk of her life, she is able
to pass for a gentile.
"She has nothing left to lose."
Sobieski said. "In a life or death sit-
uation, once people you have loved
disappear, you want to disappear
yourself or do them honor."
The actress, a student at Brown
University, said she feels honored
to take part in the .miniseries, since
it hits somewhat close to home.
"My grandfather was Jewish,
although my grandmother was
riot," Sobieski said. She remembers
growing up celebrating Chanukah
and taking part in other festivities
in a pan-religious atmosphere.
"I have always been in contact
with my Gra.ndpop; I'm proud of
my Jewish roots," she said
Could she see her way through
the atrocities faced by her onscreen
character? Sobieski offers a strong
performance that is a study in true
grit and honesty. But she wonders
if she herself could have survived
Warsaw "I don't know if I would
have the strength," she said
"There should be a story about
the Holocaust told every year if
not every month," said actor
David Schwimmer, best known
as Ross Geller on the TV show
Friends., (He and Avital recently
ended a real-life romance)
"There are many other stories of
resistance in the Holocaust and in
different ghettos. I hope many sto-
ries continue to be told," he said
The Jewish actor poi trays Yitzhak
Zuckerman, chief lieutenant and
friend to Mordechai Anielewicz
(Hank Azaria). The role is a far cry
from Schwirnrner's caffeinated char-
acter on Friends-, whose perk this
season is once again being involved
with Jennifer Aniston's Rachel.
A graduate of Northwestern
University, Schwimmer, 35, was
born in New York City, and grew
up in Beverly Hills. Aside from
Friends and many other TV
roles, he can be seen in numer
ous films, including Kissing A
Fool and Six. Days, Seven Nights.
"I love playing [Ross],"
ScIrwimmer said, "and I love
doing that show. But I also like
to think I'm trying to grow as an
actor and as a person. And I
think I'm more interested in sto
ries in general that have some-
thing to say, a moral, some sto-
ries that illuminate, that edu-
cate." 0
During the next few weeks, the surprised Germans
were repeatedly beaten back, until they systematical-
ly leveled every ghetto building and flushed out
holdouts with gas and fire. The last organized stand
came at a bunker at Mila Street 18, although some
fighters escaped to the "Aryan" side through
Warsaw's sewers and lived to fight as partisans, and
to tell their story later.
On May 16, 1943, German Gen. Jurgen Stroop
declared Warsaw Judenrein, Jew-free, although a few
Jewish snipers remained to harass the Nazi soldiers.
The dominant figure in Uprising is ZOB com-
mander Mordechai Anielewicz, a 24-year old teacher
who was killed in the final battle at Mila 18. He is
portrayed by Hank Azaria (The Birdcage), up to now
mainly known for his comedic roles. (An exception:
his portrayal of Mitch Albom in the TV miniseries
Tuesdays With Morrie). Here, Azaria displays a force-
fulness and intensity that is central to the credibility
of the miniseries.
Other resistance fighters are played by Leelee
Sobieski as Tosia Altman, Stephen Moyer as Simha
"Kazik" Rotem, John Ales as Marek Edelman, as
well as Sadie Frost, Radha Mitchell, and Israeli
actress Mili Avital.
Donald Sutherland gives a finely nuanced per-
formance as Adam Czerniakow, the conflicted head
of the Judenrat, while Jon Voight commendably
avoids playing General Stroop as a one-dimensional
villain.
The only miscasting appears to be David
Schwimmer of Friends fame, who portrays Yitzhak
"Antek" Zuckerman. Even with a willing suspension
of disbelief, it is difficult to imagine the well-fed and
neatly combed Schwimmer as the ZOB's chief oper-
ative on the 'Aryan" side and the organization's
commander after Anielewicz's death.
Uprising has moments of sheer elation, as when
the ghetto fighters raise a hand-made flag with the
Star of David over one building, in the teeth of Nazi
artillery. In counterpoint, educator Janus Korczak,
head of an orphanage, tells his charges that they are
going on a picnic, and they climb into the cattle cars
on the way to Treblinka, singing "The Sun is
Shining."
Among the most harrowing scenes are those of
German soldiers pumping water into the rat-infested
sewers to flush out the remaining fighters.
Uprising is likely to raise protests from Polish-
American organizations for its unsparingly harsh
view of the Polish people. In one particularly damn-
ing incident, an Easter mass is celebrated in a
Warsaw cathedral, while the smoke of the ghetto's
burning buildings and bodies drift into the church.
The priest's response is to close the windows and
continue the service.
At other dramatic points, the Polish underground
refuses to aid the embattled Jews, and a Polish work-
er, paid to guide the Jews through the sewers, tries
to renege on his bargain.
Avnet remains unfazed by possible negative reac-
tions. "I wasn't nearly as tough on the Poles as I
could have been," he says. Without Polish collabora-
tion with the Germans, he said, "many thousands of
Jews could have been saved, and we can say the
same of the Ukrainians and Latvians."
Avnet has directed and produced more than 50