The Devil's Arithmetic

Hannah is a teenager living in America. She has no interest in her family's religion or customs; she goes unwillingly to the Passover meal and is bored by the past the old people describe. At the table she is asked to open the door. When she opens it there is no America outside; there is a village in Poland in 1941. Everyone knows her and calls her by another name. A few days later the village is gathered and put on a train. Hannah knows where they are going because she read it in history. She cannot convince anybody. Donna Deitch directs. The film is adapted from a novel by Jane Yolen. Kirsten Dunst plays Hannah and Brittany Murphy plays her friend Rivka. Mimi Rogers and Louise Fletcher are in the cast. It is an American production. The film was made for television. The matter it treats is why remembering is needed; having the knowledge is not enough, and the film gives that through a time travel device. The narrative shows the camp directly and does not soften it for a young audience. Hannah knows the future and can change nothing, and that choice is the hardest thing in the film. The character played by Brittany Murphy stands at the emotional centre. The film gives Jewish custom and the ritual meal in detail. The narrative returns at the end to the table where it began and makes the connection. The ending offers no scene of rescue. Its limit is the scale of the production; the television budget shows, the scenes are cramped and the crowds small. Who it is for: people looking for a film for young viewers to watch alongside a history lesson. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, the production plain, and the ending bitter.