Guest review by Dan Berman

The memorable Academy Award-nominated documentary, Prisoner of Paradise takes the viewer on a dark tour of a Nazi base camp. Not just any kind of a visit, but one that will certainly leave you with a visible look of terror upon your face. The documentary follows the life and times of German-Jewish Filmmaker, movie actor, and popular stage performer, Kurt Gerron. Gerron enjoyed much success, but at the same time refused to accept the warning signs that fellow family members, and other actors of that period were trying to convey. Prisoner of Paradise dissects the personal and professional life of a genius Filmmaker who refused to see the dark cloud heading toward him. Everyone had the idea that the entire Nazi empire would eventually just go away. The film is a grim, ugly, bloody, look into one big cover-up that so many Jews paid for with their lives. The camp didn't just have the entire country fooled but they convinced the entire world that the Jews being held captive were safe.

Prisoner of Paradise is a story of how one particular Jew came to discover one of the most convincingly heinous documents in the entire archive of Nazi propaganda. Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender’s Prisoner of Paradise is a collaboration of many mediums combined to give this film its powerful effect.

The storybook place that the Fuhrer talked so highly about was nothing more than a complete fraud. The place was a death sentence for thousands of Jews who were murdered behind those walls. Gerron was the man responsible for making the film and it doesn’t excuse or minimize the implications or what punishment the Filmmaker will have to suffer. The rumors varied among the innocent people inside those horrible walls if Gerron should have been shot or pitied for his actions. It still remains true just how deep a collaboration he had with their captors.

Kurt Gerron's accomplishments include starring in the film classic Blue Angel among other film and stage performances.

Sometimes the truth is harder to find, and nothing appears as it seems.

Dan Berman

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