28 Sep Sophie’s Choice
Sophie’s Choice, Holocaust film starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol
(1982) “Sophie’s Choice” is the story of a young Polish woman who survived the horrors of Auschwitz. It is 1947 Brooklyn. Sophie has come to America and settled into a boarding house with her lover Nathan, a man of many passionate moods.
They befriend a young Southern writer named Stingo, and it is he who uncovers Sophie’s story of shameful survival.
Based on the 1979 best-selling novel of the same name by William Styron, the movie was nominated for five Academy Awards and, of course, Meryl Streep won for best actress. Streep was 33 when “Sophie’s Choice” was released. It was her 8th movie. When she first came on the screen, in her most playful moments, I thought she looked a lot like Catherine Heigl, so beautiful.
I immediately recognized Peter MacNicol (28 at the time) who played Stingo as the actor who plays the eccentric genius Dr. Larry Fleinhardt in the TV show Numb3rs. I think they were the same character except that in this movie he was a writer; in Numb3rs, a physicist.
“Sophie’s Choice” was written, directed, and co-produced by Alan J. Pakula, of Polish-Jewish lineage. I read in a TCM article that Pakula thought if his father hadn’t come to America, his family might too have perished at Auschwitz.
In all the years since this movie was released, I was always afraid to watch it. Yes, I had watched bits and pieces but was never able to just sit down and watch the whole thing.
This time, after watching so many Holocaust movies, even though the horrifying scenes were familiar to me, I was spellbound. After Sophie survived it all, I marveled at how well she seemed to be able to hold it together.
But in the end Auschwitz won, after all.
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