A Teen's View of the Holocaust:
A Project of Passion for Actress/Executive Producer Mimi Rogers
By Hillary Atkin
As a child, actress/executive producer Mimi Rogers -- whose father is Jewish -- would periodically celebrate Passover with her family. "I have many fond memories of our Passover Seders together," says Rogers, whose feelings were antithetical to those of Kirsten Dunst (Hannah Stern) in "The Devil's Arithmetic," a touching, beautifully done Holocaust film that became a labor of love for Rogers.
Indeed, Rogers -- who's most known as an actress ("The Rapture," "Lost in Space," "The Mirror Has Two Faces," and Fox's hit series, "The X-Files") -- executive produced the provocative made-for-television film with Dustin Hoffman.
The stately Rogers also stars in "The Devil's Arithmetic" as Lenore Stern, Hannah's mother, who must twist her daughterıs arm to get her to attend the family Passover Seder.
"The Devilıs Arithmetic" -- which premiered March 28 on Showtime and just hit video stores nationwide -- is an emotionally wrenching view of the Holocaust told through the eyes of a modern-day teenager, portrayed by Dunst ("Interview with the Vampire").
"I felt very strongly about bringing this story to the screen, because it tells about the Holocaust through a child's point of view. That unique perspective allows young people to identify with the protagonist," says Rogers, speaking to a packed house this week after a screening of the film at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
"I'm extremely proud of the movie," Rogers adds, noting that the film is based on the popular 1988 Jane Yolen novel, which is incidentally one of Dunst's favorite books. Dunst's character Hannah is a 16-year old upper middle class girl from New Rochelle, New York, who upon opening the door for Elijah at the family Seder finds herself transported back in time to German-occupied Poland in 1941. The dream-like situation quickly becomes a nightmare as she and the other Jews in a small Polish town are forcefully rounded up and deported to a concentration camp while celebrating a wedding.
Because of her knowledge of the future, Hannah soon becomes a leader and an inspiration to the other women and children in the cramped barracks. She relates all kinds of compelling stories, including the story of Dorothy and "The Wizard of Oz." She also cheers them up by talking about pizza and hamburgers and other kinds of food people eat in 20th-century America.
The story assumes a bittersweet quality as Hannah develops a very close relationship with Rivkah (the talented Brittany Murphy, who starred as Tai Frasier in the box-office smash "Clueless"). Hannah ultimately realizes that Rivkah is, in fact, a woman she knows in her contemporary life as her aunt (Louise Fletcher), a concentration camp survivor.
The film also includes some poignant romantic moments -- Hannah starts to develop a relationship with a boy, who she knows will not survive.
As a result of her Holocaust experiences, the once-spoiled, shallow, party-going teen matures into a sensitive, caring, compassionate teen who cherishes her religious heritage. By the end of the film, she is eager to celebrate the Seder.
"The Devil's Arithmetic" came to the screen through one of those Hollywood-only scenarios.
"My involvement in the whole project was an act of serendipity," Rogers explains. "The script came into my production company as a writing sample. I was blown away by it, and I quickly found out that the writer, Robert J. Avrech, had written the script six years before," she adds. Rogers then approached Dustin Hoffman, and the two subsequently co-executive produced the movie along with Rogers' partner Chris Ciaffa and Avrech. (Incidentally, Avrech -- who's written screenplays for such films as "Body Double" and "The Stranger" -- was a Rabbinical student at Yeshiva University and served as part of an anti-terrorist unit in the Israeli Army during the Yom Kippur War.)
Most of "The Devil's Arithmetic" was shot on location for 19 days during a bleak winter in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the concentration camp set -- built to resemble Auschwitz -- was built from scratch on a potato field.
"The actors showed their true grit, unified by the miserable conditions," Rogers says, noting that "despite Lithuania's treatment of the Jews during World War II, the Lithuanian crew was thrilled to have the production in their country, and there didn't seem to be any residual feelings of anti-Semitism."
Ironically, "The Devil's Arithmetic" was filmed just a few miles from one of the very first sites of the Holocaust, a series of large pits in the Panerial Forest where 70,000 Jews were shot to death in 1941 by German and Lithuanian soldiers.
The film's contemporary scenes were shot in Toronto over six days. Rogers' passion for the project is quite evident, as are her fond feelings for Judaism.
"The big [message] I want people to take away from the film is the idea of remembering your family, your heritage and what happened during the Holocaust," explains Rogers, noting that "The Devil's Arithmetic" is now being used as a teaching tool for teens in schools around the United States.
"It's also important for children to have a strong relationship with their parents."
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