The Devil's Arithmetic

This movie is rooted firmly in historical fiction but for a younger teen or pre-teen audience it's an excellent movie. Definitely lower budget starring a very young Britney Murphy and Kirsten Dunst. It doesn't pull any punches and is a mature story for sure but at the same time isn't overly graphic making it perfect for a younger audience. I have not read the book that this movie is based on but this movie as a standalone for introducing the topic while also taking itself seriously and not being overly watered down this movie is excellent. I remember watching this in middle school social studies class and it stayed with me as an adult. Now as a teacher and parent this film is an excellent learning tool to supplement learning about the Holocaust.

Originally made for Showtime, this excellent video is is based upon the children's book of the same title. Make no mistake, Devil's Arithmatic is brutal and honest -- and definitely not for younger viewers. However, it is an excellent introduction to the reality of the Holocaust for junior high or middle school students. Hannah is like most contemporary teenagers -- she'd really rather be with friends than participate in her family's Passover Seder.(The fact that it's Passover and she's hanging out watching her friend get a tattoo doesn't even strike her as ironic. Hannah is a child of the '90s.) She grudgingly does go to the Seder, because, well, she doesn't have a choice. Instead of actually participating, Hannah gets tipsy. Then, things start to get interesting. Devil's Arithmatic is a lesson distguised as a time-travel story. How Hannah ends up in Poland in 1942 isn't important. She's there. And she's rounded up along with everybody else. Suddenly, all those stories old people insist on telling over and over begin to make sense. The brutality of life in a concentration camp becomes a living breathing thing -- not just a number on her Aunt Eva's arm. Being a Jew begins to have meaning she never imagined. Hannah finds that what you believe can not only give you strength -- it can define you and your world. More importantly, it can give you the knowledge to choose. Choice is power. In the the world of the unnamed camp, one can either choose humanity or spiritual death. Hannah chooses humanity. I really don't want to reveal too much of the plot, because the twists make Devil's Arithmatic extremely affecting. Normally, I do not like fiction about the Holocaust. To me, fictionalising the Shoah is disrepectful; it is like lying. This movie, however, is respectful and in its own way very haunting. It has its own world and its own truths. I cannot reccommend this video highly enough.

This movie is very good. The book was good. It is hard to watch this movie because its hard to watch the nazi's (the actors who played them did a very good job) and how they treat people and yet I am sure how they were cannot really be conveyed in a movie. This is just as close to evil as we can get without being there. When i watched this for the first time, I was very quite for hours afterwards, thinking about what I saw. It is a movie that provokes thought and emotion and is not a "fluff piece" or "feel good movie" but it is designed to make you think and on that level it succeeds VERY well.

This movie is a great introduction to the atrocities of the Holocaust. It gives an accurate account in an abstract way that is appropriate for all ages.

Jane Yolen's "The Devil's Arithmetic" is a classroom fixture and a benchmark in young adult literature for its vivid yet sensitive portrayal of the Holocaust. In this Showtime made-for-TV adaptation, introduced and produced by Dustin Hoffman (himself from a family of Polish Jews), the novel is brought to life in a way that shows younger viewers the horrors of the Holocaust without being overtly gory. Modern teenager Hannah Stern resents being made to participate in her Aunt Eva's Passover celebrations, feeling no attachment to her religion. As her relatives, all concentration camp survivors, try to recount their experiences, Hannah turns away, bored. All of this changes as Hannah is chosen to perform the ritual act of opening the door for the Prophet Elijah--instead of the hallway of her aunt's apartment, Hannah is transported to rural Jewish Poland, circa 1941. Hannah attempts to make sense of her old life, and the girl her new Polish "family" expects her to be. As time passes, more and more of her old life becomes a dream. Hannah and her cousin Rivkah explore the town before attending a wedding, at which point Nazis round up the wedding guests and load them onto trucks. The remainder of the film focuses on the day-to-day struggle to live in the concentration camp in powerful moments of stolen identities: the grim shearing of hair, the painful tattoos of blue numbers, the bitter cold and backbreaking labour. Although this is a children's film, there are plenty of grim realities: the beating and hanging of several men who attempt to escape, women suffocating in a gas chamber. Several previous reviewers have mentioned inaccuracies (swing music, banned by Hitler in 1938, is played in a lounge), but despite the small flaws, for a low-budget film, it captures the drama and power of the original novel. Much of the original plot has been changed, mostly for the better, but readers may find some transitions confusing. The film's acting, cinematography, costumes, and sound editing are all top-notch. There are moments of quiet beauty, of love that transcends time, of the will to survive against the odds. Kirsten Dunst gives a stunning performance as a spoiled teen that learns the meaning of ultimate sacrifice, cherishing her heritage and religion when confronted with the horrors of the Holocaust. An excellent companion to the novel, and a good introduction to the Holocaust for young teens.

Kirsten Dunst as Hannah is an older teenager who could care less about her ethnic past, the history of her people, the Jews. When various family members try to share with her stories of what they went through during the Holocaust, Hannah gave lip service just smiling wishing she was elsewhere. This reminds me of myself as a teenager as well as many of our friends and family. If it did not directly impact me / us, why should we care? Hannah some how finds herself in the past with her aunt, now around the same age as herself just days before the Nazi took all of the town members to death camps. Through this process, Hannah goes from disbelief (this cannot be happening to me; when will I wake up), to a change of self... moving beyond just caring for herself to caring for others. The change Hannah goes through is what we all need. While a fictional movie, the portal of events appears to match historical records of the times, and touches one heart. To have various individuals being taken to the gas chamber with just a simple wish... remember me... don't forget me... please remember me... cannot be more impacting to one's heart. If we forget what the Jews, and those who helped them, went through during the Holocaust (where the Nazi's wanted genocide -- the complete wiping out of the Jews), we risk many things from history repeating itself to everyone else left being less than human. While I am guilty as a teenager of being very similar to Hannah at the start of the movie, I pray and hope that while I did not go through her ordeal, that I have learned. I hope everyone who watches this movie does not walk away entertained. I hope everyone who watches this movie walks away crying and changed in some way. So that we do remember, so that we never forget.

I teach middle school students and we do a unit every year that includes the Holocaust. This is the first time my students have truly been exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust. This is an excellent movie of the book by the same name. Age appropriate for middle schoolers - wouldn't go much younger due to some of the content. I did prepare my students for a couple of things they would see and told them they didn't need to watch if they didn't want. I have had many students go read the book after we have watched this movie. Great for discussion. I use with the Pyramid of Hate and it makes a great impression on the importance of the choices we make with our actions and words.

The way the story is told is very interesting because it is told in a way that follows a storyline in a young girls dream. Really makes you stop and think.

Wonderful movie about a young woman, who has no real regard for the history of her people in the beginning, but circumstances cause her attitude towards it to change!

Saw this film on TV years ago, brilliant and very moving. Bought the dvd and already watched it twice

I read the book first, it is a YA book but I think it should be a must read for anyone who wants to know what happened during this time. It pulls no punches, its raw at times and you will cry.

The film is based on the book "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen. It is a powerful story and the dvd is thought provoking. However, the book seems so much more scarier (indeed, I would argue that the book is one of the most important ones that I have read).

I enjoyed this movie--which is toned down a bit out, likely since it's based off a children's book. The acting is good. The Nazi Commander and Kirsten Dunst did a good job of their roles. There are a few segments of the movie that will leave you wishing for more, but this movie does follow the book quite closely and some things were left more vague since the audience was for early middle school children.