X
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Balcony Releasing
  • 1 h 26 m
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Balcony Releasing
  • 1 h 26 m

Summary Blessed Is the Match is the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern-day Joan of Arc. Safe in Palestine in 1944, she joined a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary. With unprecedented access to the Senesh family archive, this powerf...

Directed By: Roberta Grossman

Written By: Sophie Sartain, Roberta Grossman

  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Balcony Releasing
  • 1 h 26 m
  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • Balcony Releasing
  • 1 h 26 m

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh

Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
49
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary Blessed Is the Match is the first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern-day Joan of Arc. Safe in Palestine in 1944, she joined a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary. With unprecedented access to the Senesh family archive, this powerf...

Directed By: Roberta Grossman

Written By: Sophie Sartain, Roberta Grossman

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Peter Hay

Self - Senesh Biographer

Judy Baumel-Schwartz

Self - Bar-Ilan University

Michael Berenbaum

Self - Holocaust Scholar

Shimon Peres

Self - President of Israel

Martin Gilbert

Self - Historian

Márta Ozoray

Self - Hannah's Classmate

Magda Csécsy

Self - Hannah's Classmate

Dina Schechman

Self - Kibbutz Sdot-Yam

Eitan Senesh

Self - Hannah's Nephew, Giora Senesh's Son

David Senesh

Self - Hannah's Nephew, Giora Senesh's Son

Aharon Megged

Self - Author & Kibbitz Sdot-Yam Member

Surika Braverman

Self - Parachutist

Laszlo Ritter

Self - Institute of History, H.A.S.

Reuven Dafni

Self - Parachutist, Final Interview, 2005

Judith Charody

Self - Catherine's Cellmate

Éva Ritscher

Self - Catherine's Cellmate

Susan Beer

Self - Gestapo Prisoner

Joan Allen

Catherine Senesh

Alona Tal

Hannah Senesh

Meri Roth

Hannah Senesh

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
49
0% Positive
0 Reviews
100% Mixed
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
49
0% Positive
0 Reviews
100% Mixed
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
60
A limited amount of original footage -- awkwardly enhanced with reenactments -- gives the film a somewhat narrow focus. But in a way, the dry tone fits.
By Elizabeth Weitzman FULL REVIEW
60
Senesh was a budding writer, and her poems and diary entries add flavor to an already dramatic tale in Roberta Grossman's Blessed Is the Match.
By Dennis Harvey FULL REVIEW
50
Because Senesh died so young, it's hard to fill out a film of nearly 90 minutes that claims her as the subject, so director Grossman has resorted to using newsreel footage as well as re-creations, which, though discreet, add nothing special to the proceedings.
By Kenneth Turan FULL REVIEW
50
The title is drawn from a verse Hannah wrote just before she was captured -- and that impulse is enough to sustain audience interest.
By Bob Mondello FULL REVIEW
50
Tells us just about everything we might want to know about her - except why she did what she did. That important information will have to wait for another film.
FULL REVIEW
50
Documents courage, but steers clear of character.
By Jeannette Catsoulis FULL REVIEW
50
An ungainly hybrid of straight-up documentary and ingenuous reenactment.
FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company The Katahdin Foundation
Release Date Jan 28, 2009
Duration 1 h 26 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
View All Details

Awards

Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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