And the Violins Stopped Playing (1988) - film review

Poland, 1942.  Dymitr Mirga is a Romani gypsy whose skills as a violin player are very much appreciated by German officers.  But when he learns that Polish Jews have been cleared from the ghettos, Dymitr suspects that the gypsies will be the Nazis’ next target.  Fearful of what may lie ahead, he urges his leader to order an evacuation to Hungary, a country that has so far avoided the scourge of Nazi occupation.  When the leader refuses, Dymitr is elected as his replacement as soon as the threat to the community has become evident.  The gypsies take to the road, but some go their own way, only to be caught and massacred by German soldiers.  After an arduous journey across Poland, Dymitr and his family finally reach the sanctuary of Hungary, just before the Nazis invade.  Captured by the Germans, they soon find themselves in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where unspeakable horrors await them...

And the Violins Stopped Playing provides a sobering reminder that Jews were not the only victims of the Nazi Holocaust during WWII.  Half a million gypsies also died as part of Hitler’s purification programme, either gassed in the death camps or else butchered on the roads in their attempt to evade capture.   Alexander Ramati’s adaptation of his best selling novel is a profoundly moving film that does not shy away from the supreme horrors of the Holocaust, including Josef Mengele’s appalling experiments on children and the traumas experienced by individuals as they see their families decimated by illness or Nazi brutality.

The film has its flaws – some of the characters are little more than caricatures and there is a slight tendency for over-sentimentalisation.  However, such is the power of the story it tells that it is hard not to be overwhelmed by it and to feel genuine anguish for the gypsy protagonists as their world is slowly torn apart by the actions of one of the most evil regimes to have ever disgraced our world.   Closely based on real events, And the Violins Stopped Playing is an essential visual record of humanity’s darkest hour, as well as an effective plea for the gypsies of our own time to be treated with greater tolerance and understanding.

© Alex Sullivan 2010

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