Too many fans seem to be blown away

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

It is a British/Yugoslavian film about the mass escape from the extermination camp at Sobibor, the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners of German extermination camps. It is full of contrasts, both moral and attitude-related, and gives a realistic overview of daily life of Jewish prisoners and their involuntary development from peaceful craftsmen into protagonists and organizers. The escape plan is hard to make out and not everything goes planned - even with Germans who are known for their punctuality and routines. However, if there are programs to kill on the basis on ethnicity, race or religion, you cannot expect leaking or treason, but a unified front against executors.All the cast is evenly strong, beginning with Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer who received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Television).Of course, this harsh film is not for everyone, but it would be useful as an history lesson - as the screenplay is based on real events and written by survivors of this uprising.

For some reason, I seem to shy away from these public domain pictures because their ubiquitous presence in film compilations and dollar store racks seem to suggest that they aren't very good. Then you come across one like "Escape From Sobibor" and you have to re-evaluate your prejudices. This was an amazing film, telling the true story of a Polish Nazi death camp and the men and women who led their people to freedom in the face of insurmountable evil."The Great Escape" comes to mind as a film along the same lines. However the difference with that story was in the fact that the Great Escape prisoners were primarily U.S. and Royal Air Force fliers, an 'elite' group so to speak, who even if the Nazis hated, at least had earned a measure of respect for their aviation abilities. In 'Sobibor', the prisoners were virtually leaderless, with only Leon Feldhendler (Alan Alda) showing an ability to plan and organize at the outset. It's almost an hour into the picture before Sergeant Sascha Pechersky (Rutger Hauer) makes his appearance, a captured Russian soldier who's also a Jew. Their collaboration initially must overcome a certain level of distrust, but once that trust is earned, the movie moves into it's all or nothing finality.There are just too many heartbreaking scenes in this film, but to truly understand the nature of evil and how freedom's enemies mean to do us harm, films like this are a must see. I say this within the context of present day reality, and the ever growing threat of would-be nuclear powers like Iran and North Korea. Ideological enemies turned extremist leave no room for rational behavior; how else do you explain the fanatical inhumanity that leads to the point blank murder of a woman and her baby? Or the concept of 'thirteen or fifty', that scene where the failed escape prisoners must select a colleague to die along with them.This is not an easy picture to watch, even when the prisoners begin their bid for freedom with the murder of the first German officer. You know you want to cheer for them, but the mission is so grim and the horror of their quest is so suffocating, that you can only watch in astonishment. One's focus is dictated by Sascha's only possible response to Leo's uncertainty about his people's willingness to kill for their freedom - "They will manage because they have to".

*contains spoilers maybe* The facial expressions are absolutely brilliant! This film came out about 5 years before I was born, but I watched it in school last year and remember every second of it. The part that first got me, near the beginning, when the families are waving off their children, wives, parents, sisters, brothers, etc... to what they thought was them going to be showered to stop them getting a disease, unaware they are about to be gassed. Or when Moses goes to the front gate, and sees the naked young boy get savaged by a dog, as his terrified mother screams. And Moses works out his family are dead, not even their dignity saved as they are stripped naked. It's an excellent film, very realistic. I had to keep telling myself that it was only a film, especially when at the end when the narrator tells you everything that happens, and the main, brave woman Luka (Joanna Pacula) vanished in a Polish countryside, and even Sasha's attempts to find her failed, I just felt like crying as she played a vital part, pretending to be Sasha's girlfriend so they didn't get caught meeting up. And when there was no record of Shlomo (I think his name was) brother, Moses. And his girlfriend and the Kapo were killed. And when Samuel gets shot and Leon can't do anything but try and make him wake up! It's a really sad film, and really makes you think twice about what people really had to go through for what this world is today.

I agree with what the first commenter added. I saw this movie when it first came out and till this day I remember the movie. It really disturbs me what humans have done things as such to other humans all because of different beliefs and customs. I also found the scene where the people were taking their bowls of soup and what was discovered as being in it. That is just horrible. I really can't figure how the officers could have followed the commands of their superiors to enforce the acts that were and go to sleep at night knowing the crimes they committed. I would have rather been executed myself rather than execute others. I couldn't have lived with the knowing of what I did in other words. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone that needs to understand the depth and meaning of holocaust.