Birthplace

A Holocaust survivor takes the viewer on his haunting journey back to a small town in Poland, his birthplace, to try to uncover the secrets of his father's and brother's disappearance. Tension mounts through his interviews of villagers, some young, some old, who knew his family. The narrator survived the Holocaust with his mother and eventually made it to the United States, but his brother and father disappeared and obviously did not survive. Determined to learn the truth, the narrator, now a film-maker in the U.S., returns to the village, seeking out people who knew his family. Some greet him warmly, seemingly happy to see that he survived. Others greet him warily, outwardly polite but clearly anxious as to what this American might turn up. Perhaps most chilling is his interview with a (now) elderly peasant farmer whose contempt for Jews remains palpable after decades.