Directed by:
Jon AvnetCinematography:
Denis LenoirComposer:
Maurice JarreCast:
Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria, David Schwimmer, Jon Voight, Donald Sutherland, Cary Elwes, Stephen Moyer, Sadie Frost, Radha Mitchell, Eric Lively (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
After Germany invades Poland in 1939, the Nazis decree that 350,000 Warsaw Jews be forcibly moved into a cordoned area known as the Warsaw Ghetto. Idealistic teacher Mordechai Anielewicz (Hank Azaria) decides the Jews must rise up against the Nazis and creates the Jewish Fighting Organization (JFO). He tries to secure the support of Adam Czerniakow (Donald Sutherland), the morally conflicted head of the Warsaw Ghetto's Jewish Council, but Adam declines because he knows that any act of resistance will provoke the Germans to retaliate by killing innocent Jews. Determined to mobilize a resistance alone if he has to, Mordechai recruits his friends and covert couriers whose ability to pass as Aryan helps them smuggle in arms and explosives from the Aryan side of the city, building up an arsenal to fight the Nazis.
When the Germans begin deporting 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka death camp, the JFO begins acts of resistance that culminate with ghetto fighters firing their first gunshots against the Nazis. When it becomes clear that the JFO is a force to be reckoned with, the German High Command sends in General Stroop (Jon Voight), who is determined to end the uprising in two or three days.
Capturing the horror that unfolds is Fritz Hippler (Cary Elwes), a filmmaker assigned by Hitler's chief propagandist to promote anti-Semitism with a film about Jewish life in the ghetto.
When the Nazis continue to suffer more casualties in their battle with the ghetto fighters, General Stroop decides to raze the ghetto. But even that can't stop the JFO. Forced to go underground into bunkers but energized by their success, the resisters fight on, ultimately holding off the Nazi army longer than the entire country of Poland. They're determined to live with honor--and if need be, die with honor--while lighting the torch for resistance in the occupied territories.
(official distributor synopsis)
Cast
Leelee Sobieski
USA
Best movies:
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
The Idol (2002)
Hank Azaria
USA
Best movies:
Bart Wars: The Simpsons Strike Back (1999) (video compilation)
The Simpsons: Heaven and Hell (2002) (video compilation)
The Simpsons: Too Hot For TV (1998) (video compilation)
David Schwimmer
USA
Best movies:
Friends 25th: The One with the Anniversary (2019)
Apt Pupil (1998)
Duane Hopwood (2005)
Jon Voight
USA
Best movies:
Heat (1995)
Enemy of the State (1998)
Coming Home (1978)
Donald Sutherland
Canada
Best movies:
The Simpsons: Dark Secrets (1998) (video compilation)
Lord of War (2005)
JFK (1991)
Cary Elwes
UK
Best movies:
Stranger Things (2016) (series)
Hot Shots! (1991)
Saw (2004)
Stephen Moyer
UK
Best movies:
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Quills (2000)
Concussion (2015)
Sadie Frost
UK
Best movies:
Dracula (1992)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Magic Hunter (1994)
Radha Mitchell
Australia
Best movies:
Phone Booth (2002)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Man on Fire (2004)
Eric Lively
USA
Best movies:
Speak (2004)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
American Pie (1999)
Alexandra Holden
USA
Best movies:
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Ally McBeal (1997) (series)
Dead End (2003)
Andy Nyman
UK
Best movies:
Hangmen (2016) (theatrical recording)
Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)
Death at a Funeral (2007)
Jesper Christensen
Denmark
Best movies:
Casino Royale (2006)
Italian for Beginners (2000)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Luke Mably
UK
Best movies:
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
28 Days Later (2002)
Rise of the Footsoldier Part II (2015)
Til Schweiger
West Germany
Best movies:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997)
Head Full of Honey (2014)
Itzhak Fintzi
Bulgaria
Iddo Goldberg
Israel
Best movies:
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV movie)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
Juraj Rašla
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Všetci ľudia budú bratia (1996) (TV movie)
Štúrovci (1991) (series)
Andreas Patton
West Germany
Best movies:
The Final Journey (2017)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Great Freedom (2021)
Monika Hilmerová
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Tata (2000) (theatrical recording)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Spring of Life (2000)