Elie Wiesel Goes Home - Reviews

Video Librarian - July/August 2002

Elie Wiesel Goes Home
(2001) 105 min. VHS or DVD: $24.95. Choices, Inc. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 1-930545-62-2.
Without a doubt the most famous author to have written about the Holocaust experience, Elie Wiesel was raised in the town of Sighet (now in Romania, but a Hungarian village when Wiesel was growing up there) in the Carpathian Mountains. In 1944, Wiesel and his family were transported by the Nazis to Auschwitz, where his mother, sister and father died. Judit Elek's documentary Elie Wiesel Goes Home follows Wiesel as he returns to Sighet and Auschwitz. Like many first-person accounts of the Holocaust, this one is very disturbing, but what sets it apart are Wiesel’s words--passages taken from his published works, in particular his profoundly revealing book Night, here read by actor William Hurt. Hassidic music, period film footage and still photographs enhance this account of Wiesel's formative years and his 1944-45 nightmare. A must purchase for those with strong Holocaust collections, this inexpensive program is also highly recommended for general collections. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)