Your impression of this film will be greatly influenced by the version you watched. I watched 374 minute mini-series, as the short version (145 minutes) is not to be found. So my first impression is this film is way, way, way too long! More so this film feels like a 1983 MFTV film. It has the obligatory star (Michael York) who we all like and the supporting cast of unknowns. And like most MFTV films it is pretty much start to finish bad acting (overdramatic) and bad directing. It is after all 1983! Yet there is merit to this film. First off it tells a fascinating and heroic tale of a holocaust survivor. It is a story of perseverance and prosperity under the worst conditions. Specifically it tells the story of Martin Grey (AKA Mieczysław Grajewski) a Polish Jew that was sent to a Nazis Death Camp (Treblinka) ... escaped that camp ... joined The Russian or Red Army ... became an NKVD Lieutenant searching for Nazis in Poland and then participated in the Battle of Berlin and fall of the Nazis empire? Not many can tell a similar story. Secondly the film was ambitious with great sets, scenes, props and location work. This film deserves to be released on DVD here in the USA as it is a story that should be remembered. Yes it will need to be edited down to about 4.5 hours and it will need to be cleaned up in many places but this film is deserves to be remembered. Martin Gray's story taken at face value (he has detractors) is most compelling.6/10

i have watched stuff like this, e.g. holocaust and some b/w movies in the 70s and 80s, like "der fall Gleiwitz". i can remember one scene of this movie, the protagonist trying to hide from the German SS in a hole under a restroom. i did not read the novel, but if i have some spare time, i will do so. As far as the title is concerned, martin gray was arguing with his parents because he put his life at stake to help others in the Warsaw ghetto. i was reading the documentary "the yellow star" in the 70s and i remember there was a young boy being asked, what he wanted to be, and he replied:"a dog, because the German guards like dogs". i thought "the poor boy" but what could i do? and so just the protagonist Martin G. has to deal with a lost childhood, as he struggles for survival of his family and others since the Nazis were occupying Poland. there is just one little reference that this is not a Hollywood movie, as the smugglers leave two bags of food in front of the "Orphelinat Juif"(=Jewish orphan's home). What it makes worth watching, is the language and the history of people who really existed and suffered. I for my part can be more neutral since i was born in the 60s. even if someone should read this who lost family members in this time wants to ask questions or visit some important places. i was in England and later traveling to Auschwitz in the 90s and i just don't feel like arguing with people who don't like Germans because of world war 2. I had just the idea of looking for some old movies on youtube so I suddenly remembered this. So, i do not arrogate to judge the behavior of people whose country was occupied by the Germans. What the movie and the author tells us is that the sacrifice of the people who fought for their freedom must not be forgotten. this movie deserves for sure, more reviews than it got yet, as it is not based on figments but on true facts. if you like it, you will also like "hitlerjunge Salomon", "Holocaust", "Jeder Stirbt Für Sich Allein", "Sansibar Oder Der Letzte Grund", or "swing kids".

I saw this film during the 80's on three separate VHS video tapes and I watched it over and over until it went out of circulation. I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get a copy for the last decade and I hope that now, during the Anniversary year, that it has been re-released. I have no hesitation in recommending this film for viewing and it deserves the "10" that I rated it. Although a French film Michael York is an English actor and the accents and language are easy to understand. The film is a must to see and anyone interested in this period in history must definitely see it. The story is very sad and is a reminder of a period in history that must never be forgotten and never repeated.Does anyone have a copy or know where I can buy one?

For those I loved (Au nom de tous les miens)is the remarkable life story of Martin Gray, a young Polish Jew, who has to skip the innocent days of his youth and has to grow up early to cope with the horrors of WWII. As a jew Martin and his family are forced to move to the ghetto. Although he is still very young, his youth helps him to adapt to the situation easier. He leads a group of smugglers that help him to get bread into the ghetto. The ghetto is finally emptied and he himself is transported to a concentration camp, from which he manages to escape by shear determination to survive. He joins the partisans and later the red army. After the war he settles in America and becomes a wealthy antique salesman. He meets a Dutch woman and moves to France, has two children and then fate strikes again. His wife and children die in a forest fire. This is the story he recorded after all that happened. He recorded it for those he loved. And lost.