You have to hand it to Ted Turner. While the networks are turning all of our social problems into tacky, sensationalist, and oversimplified TV movies, Turner's network has chosen to take on the much more daring task of filming biographies and literary works. Max and Helen, based on the book by renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, is a competent, if somewhat overly melodramatic, true-life tragedy. When Polish lovers Max Rosenberg (Treat Williams) and Helen Weiss (Alice Krige) were thrown into a Nazi work camp following the 1939 blitzkrieg, they vowed to survive. Rosenberg, a medical student, did his best to help the victims of the camp's dictator, Werner Schultz, a sadist who drunkenly exclaimed that Max's medicine was no cure for Schultz's cane. When Max and a handful of other males escape, he promises to return for Helen-but history and circumstance intervene, and Max finds himself exiled to Siberia for ten long years. Upon his return, he is amazed to find that Helen has survived the war-but he is perplexed when he discovers that she is living in West Germany. Visiting her, Max is shocked by what he sees behind Helen's door. Told in flashback by Max to Wiesenthal (ably portrayed by Martin Landau), the relentless Wiesenthal must now, after hearing Max's story, decide whether to continue his efforts to persecute Schultz, who is alive, well, and economically prospering. A thought-provoking story marred somewhat by the "heavy" bridging dialog between Max and Simon as he tells his powerful tale. An optional purchase. (R. Pitman)
Max and Helen
color. 94 min. Turner Home Entertainment. (1990). $79.95.Not rated. Library Journal
Max and Helen
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