UnBroken chronicles how the seven Weber siblings, ages 6 -18, evaded certain capture and death, and ultimately escaped Nazi Germany using their own cunning instincts following their mother’s incarceration and murder at Auschwitz. Their lives changed forever when a benevolent farmer put them in the back of his truck and drove them to his fruit orchard 60 kilometers east of Berlin, where they were put into hiding in a laundry hut and spent two years on their own in war torn Germany. Emboldened by their father’s mandate that they “always stay together,” the children fought through hunger, loneliness, rape, bombings, and fear. Climactically, separated from their father, the siblings declared themselves as orphans in order to escape to a new life in America. Unbeknownst to them, their only salvation would be what ultimately tears them apart, until reunited 40 years later. Filmmaker Beth Lane, daughter of the youngest Weber sibling, embarks on a quest to retrace their steps seeking answers to long-held questions about her family’s survival. The film examines the journey of the Webers as told through conversations with living siblings – now in their eighties and nineties – while Beth and her crew road trip across Germany, following the courageous, tumultuous, and harrowing path taken by her family seventy-plus years ago.
Sarasota Film Festival is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema.
Leave a Reply