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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Shoah: Four Sisters")

 

Directed by Claude Lanzmann
France 2018

 

Paula Biren, Ruth Elias, Ada Lichtman, Hanna Marton: Four Jewish women, witnesses and survivors of the most insane and pitiless barbarism, and who, for that reason alone, but for many others also, deserve to be inscribed forever into the memory of humankind. What they have in common, beside the specific horrors to which each of them were subjected, is a searingly sharp, almost-physical intelligence, which rejects all pretence or faulty reasoning. In a word, idealism.

Filmed by Claude Lanzmann during the preparation of what would become Shoah, each of these four extraordinary women deserved a film in their own right, to fully illustrate their exceptional fibre, and to reveal through their gripping accounts four little-known chapters of the extermination.

***

“Shoah: Four Sisters” — screened at last year’s New York Film Festival, before Lanzmann’s death — consists of four short features taken from interviews he shot for “Shoah” in the 1970s, each showcasing the testimony of a different female Holocaust survivor. Their stories are as harrowing, complicated and rife with imponderables as any Lanzmann filmed. And together, collected in a form that is much less labyrinthine than “Shoah,” they represent an ideal introduction (and capstone) to Lanzmann’s project.

While the installments can be watched independently, they have a cumulative power. Their points of confluence — the deaths of family members, improbable escapes, the hardship of life in ghettos and camps — underscore the horror and, at times, the grim absurdity of surviving extermination.

The subject of the segment “The Merry Flea,” Ada Lichtman, from Poland, recalls how she was forced to clean dolls taken from Jewish children to prepare them for Germans to give to their own offspring. “It’s unbelievable, dressing dolls in a death camp,” Lanzmann says to her. “But everything is unbelievable,” she replies. “It’s unbelievable being in a death camp.”

Excerpt from the NY Times located HERE.

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 28th, 2019

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Also available on DVD
Distribution Masters of Cinema - Spine #202 - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime Ruth Elias - 1:33:21.554, Ada Lichtman - 0:54:41.194

Paula Biren - 1:11:49.596 , Hanna Marton -  1:07:01.350         
Video

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc One Size: 43,383,406,304 bytes

Ruth Elias Interview: 27,295,530,816 bytes

Ada Lichtman Interview: 16,027,161,792 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.97 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 40,682,118,867 bytes

Paula Biren Interview: 20,980,171,584 bytes

Hanna Marton Interview: 19,641,323,136 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.96 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate  Ruth Elias Blu-ray:

Bitrate Ada Lichtman Blu-ray:

Bitrate Paula Biren Blu-ray:

Bitrate Hanna Marton Blu-ray:

Audio

Ruth Elias: LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

Ada Lichtman: LPCM Audio German 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
 Paula Biren: LPCM Audio Hebrew 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

Hanna Marton: LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Masters of Cinema

 

Disc One:

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc One Size: 43,383,406,304 bytes

Ruth Elias Interview: 27,295,530,816 bytes

Ada Lichtman Interview: 16,027,161,792 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.97 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Disc Two:

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 40,682,118,867 bytes

Paula Biren Interview: 20,980,171,584 bytes

Hanna Marton Interview: 19,641,323,136 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.96 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• A booklet featuring new writing by Stuart Liebman; Claude Lanzmann s director s statement; notes from the producer; and biographies on all of the Four Sisters)


 Blu-ray Release Date: February 18th, 2019
 Custom Transparent Blu-ray Case (see below)

Chapters 6, 5, 5, 5

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Masters of Cinema Lorber present Shoah: Four Sisters on Blu-ray. This documentary film aired as a four-part series on French TV in January, 2018. It is Claude Lanzman’s final film and a continuation of Shoah chronicling the lives of four woman who escaped the concentration camps and tried to find a life after the Holocaust. Lanzman traveled around four Eastern European countries to obtain interviews from the four separate women; Paula Biren, Ruth Elias, Ada Lichtman and Hanna Marton. This runs a total of 4.5 hours (approximately half of Shoah’s length) and is housed on two Dual-layered Blu-rays by The Masters of Cinema in the UK. It has max'ed out bitrates but suffers from the production and filming limitations in terms of video but the message is not hindered in the least. 

The four interviews are presented in linear PCM 24-bit audio in the languages English, German and Hebrew depending on which woman is being interviewed. The series has some music by Jérémy Azoulay bookending the interviews in the opening/closing credits. The audio quality is decent and dialogue is, generally, clear and audible. There are optional English subtitles on this Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The package consist of the four interviews and the package has a booklet featuring new writing by Stuart Liebman; Claude Lanzmann's director's statement; notes from the producer; and biographies on all of the Four Sisters.

We don't really understand large numbers - country's debt, lotteries... and mass murders when they are quoted to us. These four interviews are so impacting as they bring the events back to a personal one-on-one level. The stories, sometimes reluctantly told, repeat the horrors of how shockingly humans can treat their own species... with such hatred and disregard. Most seem capable of believing any propaganda.   The Blu-ray is a draining but worthwhile experience. It centers you when you think you have a problems in your life from a flat tire to an unwashed pair of pants. These aren't problems - we should be thankful every day that we have made it this far and to never forget the unconscionable mistakes of our past.

Gary Tooze

 

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Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Also available on DVD
Distribution Masters of Cinema - Spine #202 - Region 'B' - Blu-ray


 


 

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