Out of the Ashes (2003) Review

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(More customer reviews)This biographical film relates the story of Auschwitz survivor, Dr. Gisella Perl, providing an important chapter into the lives of those poor souls tortured into unthinkable acts in order to survive during the Holocaust of WWII.
Dr. Gisella Perl (Christine Lahti) arrives in New York with tear filled eyes begging for a new life after WWII. Perl wanted to be a doctor from childhood; she studied hard and managed to open a very successful private practice in Hungary. Her only downfall ended up being her bloodlines and this very strong woman soon found herself carted off to Auschwitz. In a series of flashbacks Perl is examined by a committee of American INS men who are judging her character as a step towards her citizenship. Perl is seen as a survivor who at times may have saved her own life at the sake of others and she is accused of collaborating with the Nazi doctor like the retched Josef Mengele. In actuality Perl saved many women by sacrificing the unborn lives of their fetuses after being tricked by Mengele into submission and having to see what went on behind the walls of Auschwitz. Despite the horrors she witnessed Perl survived to flourish once again and her true story is one of an undying spirit.
Christina Lahti is phenomenal in her role as Gisella Perl. She manages to capture both the brokenness and the strength of this woman with equal determination. Many scenes in this film are absolutely gut-wrenching but entirely important. As stated in the film Auschwitz became its own country and the "rules of humanity" no longer applied. Under these circumstances many atrocities were committed by Nazi's and the Jewish prisoners alike...who is to say what depths a human being can reach under the horror of the Holocaust? In order to thrive in the conditions faced by the prisoners they were forced to either submit and then be burned alive or to calculate another way of living. Gisella Perl did just that. Despite how you feel about abortions this woman had to perform the procedures bare handed and under intolerable conditions in order to save the lives of women prisoners. She was forced under threat to assist in "experiments" beside Mengele and even went as far as saving a female Nazi guard from her own "predicament" without question. Placed in the same circumstances few of us would have ever survived so leave your moral judgments behind on this one. Instead allow this one woman's story to matter so that the ashes of Auschwitz and all of the other concentration camps never establish a foothold in our world again.


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In Out of the Ashes, one woman is forced to choose between two horrifying acts of evil, and ultimately finds the courage to make the right choice.Based on actual events that occurred during World War II that chronicles the life of Dr. Gisella Perl, a woman who lost her entire family and was forced to start life over in America.

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