The Exiles

Stars: Edward Teller, Helen Wolff. Documentary filmmaker Richard Kaplan's The Exiles, which chronicles the story of European intellectuals emigrating to America during Hitler's reign of terror in the 1930s and 1940s, lacks a strong central focus. Combining contemporary video interview footage with notable scientists such as Edward Teller and Hans Bethe and intellectuals such as psychoanalyst/author Bruno Bettelheim and publisher Helen Wolff, with archival stills, newsreel footage, and dramatic re-enactments, the film's multitude of visual styles clash more often than mesh, adding to the thrown-together feel of the documentary. Initially, the story of the "University in Exile" (created in New York as a haven for immigrant academics, and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation) provides some interest, but before long The Exiles turns into more of a who's who of exiles (Thomas Mann, Marc Chagall, Alfred Eisenstadt, etc.) during the first half, and a paint-by-numbers look at achievements in both the physical and social sciences during the second half. Ultimately, The Exiles lacks both visual flair and a strong narrative drive, though some of the stories are intrinsically interesting in and of themselves. Audience: Students working on research papers.