The Last Letter
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Frederick Wiseman
Catherine Samie
Giorgios Arvanitis
Pierre-olivier Bardet
Vasily Grossman
Frederick Wiseman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1941, Anna Seminovna, a Russian Jewish doctor, lives in a small city in the Ukraine that has been just seized by the Germans. She writes a letter to her son--unbeknownst to her, it will be her last communication to him. Anna's son is a famous Russian physicist who lives and works far from the front lines at a Soviet science research institute. Anna writes the letter just a few days before knowing that she and the other Jews in the city will be killed by the Germans. The letter includes remembrances of her life, her relationship to her beloved son, her student life in Paris, and her failed marriage. Anna also recounts the reaction of her Russian and Ukrainian neighbors to the arrival of the Germans, the various responses of the Jewish community, the cruelty and horrors of the occupation, the help of some Russian neighbors, the greed and indifference of others--and most importantly, her slow recognition that her Jewish heritage is more important to her than her Russian nationality or Communist ideology. The letter, with its detailed observations of daily life in the ghetto, reveals the fear, courage, frailty, compassion and dignity of this professional woman as she reviews her life and faces her death.
Director
Frederick Wiseman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States September 2002
Released in United States Winter January 29, 2003
Shown at Toronto International Film Festival September 5-14, 2002.
Wiseman's fictional film is a monologue, performed by the French actress Catherine Samie (of the Comédie-Française), adapted from a chapter of Soviet author Vassili Grossman's novel, "Life and Fate".
Released in United States Winter January 29, 2003
Released in United States September 2002 (Shown at Toronto International Film Festival September 5-14, 2002.)
