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In Heaven Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery(Im Himmel, unter der Erde)

✭ ✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

Germany · 2011
1h 30m
Director Britta Wauer
Starring William Wolff
Genre Documentary

In the north of Berlin, tucked away in a residential area surrounded by walls, there is a jungle of trees, rhododendrons and ivy. In between the rampant foliage are thousands of stones – large and small, some artistic-looking, others simple, some magnificent and crumbling; some nameless and others with indecipherable inscriptions. Weißensee is the largest Jewish cemetery still in use in Europe. It is so large that it could contain approximately eighty-six football pitches. Walking through the cemetery is like taking a walk through history and the list of famous artists, philosophers, lawyers, architects, doctors, teachers of religion and publishers who are buried here is long indeed. Not many are aware that in a few years’ time, this protected area will officially be listed as one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.

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What are critics saying?

30

Variety by

Her (Wauer) attempt to relieve uncomfortable events with happy stories makes for a disturbing superficiality, and a "make your own Jewish grave" student project is plain offensive. Score is omnipresent and insufferable.

60

Time Out by David Fear

As a micro-to-macro tour of Germany's fraught relationship with its Jewish citizens, In Heaven Underground couldn't be more connective; as a straight doc, its aesthetic choices couldn't be more confusing.

80

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

It may not sound like it, but In Heaven, Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery is a playful, poetic and all-around charming documentary, an off-center look at an unusual institution.

40

Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton

The film is flecked with moments of interest, though this decidedly minor and not particularly cinematographic affair is clearly best suited to television.

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