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lstone-90514
Reviews
Lansky (2021)
Res ipsa loquitir
You cannot help but to like Lansky. He's a guy that is briilliant and can get things done.
If the watchwword is authenticity you could feel how Keitels performance creates a very believable character. True to his core values. He can rail against a non-caring and non-present G-d, but still attend services saying Kaddish for his father.
I was not student of Lansky's life so the inaccuracies did not bother me. The film does romanticize him despite the violence.
Liviing into his 80s and not spending time in jail and making tons of money for himself and the Syndicate speaks for itself.
Riphagen (2016)
No Dutch Treat
Despite the my catchy title, I thought this was a very well done film.
It depicts a struggle between good (resistance) v. bad (Nazi and Dutch collaborators)
There is a third player here however, the complacency of the Dutch public. They were willing to look the other way as their Jewish neighbors were being carted away.
The Dutch Jewish population had been their for hundreds of years (see Rembrandt paintings). Holland was one of the worst of the Western European nations in terms of the level of their cooperation with the Nazis. I wish the film would have at least shown some of the "collaboration" was passive and involved good men and women saying nothing.