In the nine months prior to World War II, 10,000 innocent children left behind their families, their homes, their childhood and took the journey...
Into the arms of strangers: Stories of the kindertransport tells the stories of the kindertransport, the effort in pre-WWII Europe to get Jewish children out of Nazi territory, sending them far away from their parents, to live with strangers... usually never to see their parents and family ever again.
Narrated by Judi Dench, featuring documentary subjects Kurt Fuchel, Alexander Gordon, Lore Segal and Norbert Wollheim. Written and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris.
Special Agent Matti
Well, not Academy Award material.
There are some interesting parts to this film and it's certainly a worthwhile historical record, filling in some of the blanks of one of the 20th century's biggest events, but Into the arms of strangers: Stories of the kindertransport is not a great documentary. The biggest fault is Mark Jonathan's reliance on archival footage, the vast majority of which is not of the interviewee. Documentarians are allowed some leeway when it comes to using other people's work to support their own but Mark Jonathan has stepped way across the line, into the land of journalism.
*Shudders*
A journalist, by their very nature, has no ethical standards to which they must adhere, but a documentarian must produce a film that is 99% their own work. Supporting work should be so scarce that you barely notice it, and then used only to introduce a new area of investigation. It should also be only of the subject. Mark Jonathan uses his supporting material artistically, to instil emotion into a topic that needs no emotional crutch.
I recommend Into the arms of strangers... only if you have a special interest in the effects of war on non-combatant children.
PG (Adult themes)
122 minutes (2:02 hours)
VHS rental: 3 September 2001
DVD rental: 21 November 2001