Steven Janda

Unwinding the character twist of “Zev” played by the legendary Christopher Plummer takes a few views to piece together if Zev is Jewish or German. The movie begins with Zev awakening from sleep, calling for his late wife Ruth. His nursing home friend wrote him a letter explaining what he needed to do to find the man that killed their families in Auschwitz. At this juncture of the movie it appears Zev is a surviving Jew of the holocaust. When Zev finally finds the killer, it is apparent that Zev was a partner with the killer, both of whom were block-furors, and they tattooed each other’s arms with numbers to make it appear they were Jewish because it was the only way they could escape Germany after the war. Zev’s friend in the nursing home evidently withheld this fact from Zev who had an impaired memory. After Zev kills the other block-furor, he kills himself. The movie ends with the nursing home friend telling the nursing home members that Zev and the man were the men who killed his family. Zev was German, but impersonated a Jew to escape prosecution of his war crimes.