X
  • 2003
  • PG
  • Menemsha Entertainment
  • 1 h 36 m
  • 2003
  • PG
  • Menemsha Entertainment
  • 1 h 36 m

Summary The startling true story of Kurt Gerron, a well known and beloved German-Jewish actor, director and cabaret star who was captured and sent to a concentration camp, where he was ordered to write and direct a pro-Nazi propaganda film. This documentary follows Gerron's career and remarkable odyssey, offering a unique prospective on this ext...

Directed By: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender

Written By: Malcolm Clarke

  • 2003
  • PG
  • Menemsha Entertainment
  • 1 h 36 m
  • 2003
  • PG
  • Menemsha Entertainment
  • 1 h 36 m

Prisoner of Paradise

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary The startling true story of Kurt Gerron, a well known and beloved German-Jewish actor, director and cabaret star who was captured and sent to a concentration camp, where he was ordered to write and direct a pro-Nazi propaganda film. This documentary follows Gerron's career and remarkable odyssey, offering a unique prospective on this ext...

Directed By: Malcolm Clarke, Stuart Sender

Written By: Malcolm Clarke

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
77% Positive
10 Reviews
15% Mixed
2 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
77% Positive
10 Reviews
15% Mixed
2 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Its uniqueness lies in its juxtaposition of happy faces and unhappy realities, of fleeting expressions of art and culture undone by daily brutality.
By Lawrence Toppman FULL REVIEW
80
An extraordinary documentary about the German entertainer Kurt Gerron, has been timed to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Week, but the film would also fit snugly on a double bill with "My Architect."
By Ella Taylor FULL REVIEW
80
An important and smoothly mounted meditation on moral choices within the entertainment biz.
By Ken Eisner FULL REVIEW
75
Gerron's terrible film was never shown in the places it was meant for, but in Prisoner of Paradise it reveals a queasy corner of the Nazi mind that tried to imagine a concentration camp as it fantasized the inmates might have.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
70
What distinguishes Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender's film from the many similarly themed efforts that have preceded it is that it tells a morality tale of a man whose hubris partially led to his downfall and whose willingness to work for his Nazi overseers resulted in one of the most notorious propaganda films of the era.
FULL REVIEW
50
While Prisoners of Paradise gives us but an impression of Gerron's state of mind, the film does a powerful job of showing us how deflated, small, and desperate this boisterous man had become.
By Wesley Morris FULL REVIEW
38
Frustratingly superficial.
By Megan Lehmann FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Alliance Atlantis Communications, Allied Filmmakers, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cafe Productions Ltd., Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO), History Television, Média Vérité, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), U5 Filmproduktion GmbH
Release Date Dec 12, 2003
Duration 1 h 36 m
Rating PG
Genres
Website http://www.prisonerofparadise.com/
View All Details

Awards

Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Directors Guild of Canada
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Directors Guild of America, USA
• 1 Nomination

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