The Pawnbroker

A Jewish pawnbroker, victim of Nazi persecution, loses all faith in his fellow man until he realizes too late the tragedy of his actions.

The Pawnbroker



This was one of the first films to deal with the effects of Nazi Germany's concentration camps on their survivors. Sol Nazerman, operator of a pawn shop, and a concentration camp survivor faces a horrid internal conflict. Being engulfed in a New York ghetto Environment, Sol suffers flashbacks. The flashbacks juxtapose concentration camp treatment with ghetto neighborhood treatment. Although, the flashbacks suffer several historical inaccuracies, the point is well made. His internal conflicts between submitting to the same injustices he! and his family suffered or resisting the injustice a peak at the end of the film Written by Alexander Nicolas <anicolas@umich.edu>

Genres: Drama

Release year: 1964