The film was a fundamentally good idea. It, however, failed to capture the sheer horror of the Holocaust. Perhaps because its target audience is young persons, we are spared much of the pure violence of men, women and children being executed at the very villages they were being grabbed up from, half of them not even made it to the trains, the site of the piles of gold teeth, glasses, clothing, shoes, at the vast numbers in the camps, at the horror of a sheer gray gown torn and tattered to wear, being forced to strip (men and women) and be laughed at and abused by the butt of a gun, the men, women and children being ordered to spit on the Torah and tear it up or they'd be executed, and at the cramming of four times the maximum number of people into a cattle car, to be hours and days on the rails... the tiny little rat eaten bunks, the muddy floors and the 'no makeup' sickly look of the camp inmates, struggling just to survive, no time to reminisce or socialize. The rape, the murder ongoing, random castration or killings for fun by the SS. The psychological games played by the camp guards to torture the minds of the inmates.These are all omissions that represent only touching the surface of the heavy deep waters of the Holocaust 'experience' that this film does not quite address. It's about tears and terror, true, but it could have gone a lot deeper into the horror.I give it an 8 for effort and hope. And for the transition of a young girl opening the door for the Prophet Elijah, to awaken in Nazi Germany as if a reminder of how grateful she might be to God for having not been forced to endure the cruelty of the Eugenics Master Race ideologies of certain financial Americans and their Nazi Germany partners, among them Paul Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. The REALITY of the Holocaust was far, far worse than this movie tells.

Now, I think everyone on the face of the Earth with an age over 4 and an IQ over 50 knows something or other about the Holocaust. We've seen movies, we've read books, and if you're like me, spent several hours rotting in front of a screen watching the history channel. It's a horrorsome and scary premise that with interest and disgust anyone.Now, just because a movie follows such a premise as this, does this make it good? The answer, in so many words, is no. Quite honestly, this movie wasn't even trying. The actors were laughable and the scenery and costumes looked fake. They put no effort into this movie. It's a horrible adaption to a rather interesting and well done book. This movie is simply trying for tears by choosing a topic that people cry at and hope it's enough to keep people interested.Don't say that I'm an anti-semite or don't care about the holocaust, because it's simply not true, I'm Jewish and easily moved emotionally. The fact is there are far superior movies about this. Life is Beautiful. Schindler's List. The Pianist. This movies Isn't even close to something so great. For crying out loud, the 'Springtime for Hitler' sequence from the Producers was a more accurate portrayal of what happened in this time period, and it never even mentioned The Holocaust!

Believe or not, after my first visit to Auschwitz museum at the age of 14 I spent some time killing my awful thoughts with a fantasy about how great it would be to travel in time and save at least one person. I was a little more than surprised when I found out that someone actually dared to make a fantasy movie about a death camp with definitely teenage impact and somehow escaped ending up with it being stupid or offensive.This movie is a good introduction for the young ones into history and more serious movies on the subject. The best thing to do was to give contemporary teenagers (especially the more ignorant ones) a character to identify with - a cute, trendy, careless girl. As Hannah experiences the painful history through an episode from her aunt's life, we understand that it is not so easy to understand what happened unless you have really been there or have enough empathy. Indeed, this movie teaches a lot about empathy, respect and sacrifice. (And that the USA is the Promised Land and the best place to live for all the Jews and other innocent, brave, freedom-loving people. Really, they've seriously overdone that bit).The incomplete historical background is the major drawback. All that is seen is the life of a happy Jewish rural town and the transport to the death camp executed by an extremely stereotypical almost cartoon-like "bad Nazi". Nothing at all about the reasons and course of war, different nations and the whole variety of people's attitudes, behavior and decisions. I guess it would make the movie too long and complex for short attention span audiences. Wink.Simplified as it was, this movie had some charming elements. Cute Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy, the references to the Wizard of Oz and even a little humor, which wasn't dark but optimistic (for some reason the dialogue about cheeseburgers totally won my heart).The whole time-travel plot worked out fine: Hannah had learned her lesson about the painful past of her family and other Jews as well as about the good and strength that was in her, but still aunt Eva didn't believe that her spoiled rebellious niece and the heroic friend from the camp were the same person, which puts our feet back on the ground.The message is understandable and deep: we cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.

If you are able to accept this simply as a good, well acted movie, that's great. Unfortunately for me, I am not able to accept a departure from logic which spoiled this movie for me.Hannah is transported to 1941 Poland. We must assume she does not speak Polish, nor do her relatives speak English. Logically, it would pose a very difficult communication problem. As well, Hannah's humble acceptance of her new surroundings was hardly credible.Do your research. Concentration camps were never as small as the one depicted in this movie. Yes, prisoners were immediately assigned work details which in this case showed them hacking at the earth with pick axes in a muddied, water sodden area. For what purpose? Even within their warped philosophy, the SS had a purpose for everything.If you accept this movie as mythology where everything and nothing makes sense, you will likely enjoy it.