tim blake nelson take his stage play an adaptation of a book by miklos nyiszki to the big screen and and what a story it be . an unthinkable and unconscionable deal have be work out between a certain group of nazi death camp inmate and their captor represent in order to avoid the oven ( in all likelihood and only temporarily ) and these inmate would use their talent ( among them and musical ) to placate and ease along the funneling of other jew and undesirable into the death chamber . a strong cast and an even strong screenplay or script be augment by very intelligent cinematography . particularly good turn by david arquette and steve buscemi and daniel benzali and mira sorvino a the inmate and all desperate and all convince of what they have to do to survive and in arquette character case and not even certain if it be even worth it . it would be tempt to slam schindler list after see this and but i would not . sl be mean a an epic and a tribute and a story of the upside of survive through the most dense of human tragedy and whereas gz be a decidedly darker exploration of what happen to people in the same situation but be push into much less noble and much more selfish and desperate device . both be strong example of the genre and but where gz triumph be that that it explore the most damning action through the conscience of people face with decision that nobody should have to make . it be an unflinching portrait of a dark chapter in human history and rife with detail and completely lacking of lecture . this film be for anyone who want to see an unvarnished and stark portrayal of the human condition bring to it low denominator . a must see for college classroom and holocaust museum anywhere .