Malcolm Clarke's Prisoner

KATHERINE BRODSKY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

The film Prisoner of Paradise is somewhat different than a traditional Holocaust documentary movie. Instead of focusing on the Holocaust as a whole, director/co-producer Malcolm Clarke follows the life of Kurt Gerron as he rises to fame and eventually becomes not only the victim of Nazi atrocities in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt, but also ultimately part of the Nazi propaganda machine itself.

The film opens with a narration by Ian Holm and with scenes depicting a utopian community. Apparently it is all part of a communal experiment, a community of "like-minded individuals," as the narrator explains it. We see healthy children eating bread, musicians performing and sporting activities going on. But all of a sudden, Holm tells us that the images that we have just seen are part of a lie, a huge lie. From that moment on, Clarke takes us on a journey through the life of Gerron (1897-1944), a German Jew, acclaimed director and star of classics such as Josef Von Sternberg's The Blue Angel and the original performer of "Mack the Knife" in Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera in 1926. Clarke illustrates in great detail how this highly impressive, although in many respects flawed man, is eventually reduced to making a 23-minute short film of Nazi propaganda called The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews.

Many considered Gerron a traitor for making the film, yet others felt that he was not in a position to choose. What is impressive about Clarke's film is that it doesn't judge one way or the other.

"It's easy to sit in an armchair, 60 years later after the fact and say that I would have taken the bullet," said Clarke. "Some people did, of course, and others did everything they could to survive.... Kurt Gerron didn't just make this decision lightly. He went to the council of elders and got their advice, asked his friends and, in the final analysis, he decided to do anything he could to survive. But the point is that there is no real answer. The point that underlies everything is that nobody should ever be placed in a position where they have to make these kinds of decisions. We shouldn't be doing this to people."

What largely enticed Clarke to the subject of Prisoner of Paradise was his ability to identify with Gerron's passion for film and the difficulties involved in making one. A painter only needs a canvas and some paints and a musician needs an instrument, but to get a film off the ground requires millions and millions of dollars in resources, Clarke explained.

"Gerron loved to be a filmmaker and suddenly, after seven years of not having the opportunity to practise his art, the worst studio on the planet, the National Socialist party, comes and offers him a gig," said Clarke. "And the reward of this gig is basically life or death. I was interested in this man's dilemma in the Holocaust."

A fair share of the film deals with establishing the context for Gerron's eventual descent in terms of historical notes on Hitler's rise to power and the like. Clarke explains that the film goes into detail to explain how Hitler rose to power because he feels that it is important to understand Gerron in the historical context of his
day. He suggested that many people do not know very much about this period in history.

"It would have been nice not to have to do that and not have to spend all the money, time and effort to basically give people a history lesson, but most people, regrettably, don't know this [background]," said Clarke.

In fact, Clarke hopes that his film will prove more accessible to the average person due to his layperson perspective.

"I'm not Jewish and I am not by any means an expert, but I look at it as a strength when I go into a new subject because in a sense I am making a film about what excites me as a layperson," he said. "Often it is the best approach to go into a subject with your eyes open, with no prejudices and no preconceived notions, aside from the fact that the Holocaust can be characterized as a not very good idea.

"This wasn't made for an audience of Jewish people; this was made for an audience of generalist people, some of whom could be Jews and most of whom probably wouldn't be Jewish."

Clarke hopes that the audience members will find the film educational, informative and entertaining all at the same time, but one thing he does not want the film to do is to tell people what to think.

"This is simply a film that poses a moral question and invites the audience to weigh the moral implications," he said. "It's not really so much about what they might have done in a similar circumstance, but rather that we shouldn't ever be placed in a position where we have to weigh such a decision.

"If the film can educate people that we, as a species, are capable of incredible heinous crimes against our fellow men, it will be one little grain of sand in the whole ocean of trying to make people a little bit more humane and tolerant," said Clarke.

The Academy Award-nominated Prisoner of Paradise is playing at the Vancouver International Film Festival on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2:20 p.m., at the Granville 7. Tickets are available at advance outlets, on the Web at www.viff.org and by phone at 604-685-8297.

Katherine Brodsky is a Vancouver-based entertainment writer. Feedback can be directed to her at [email protected].

^TOP