Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh

Released Jan 28, 2009

1h 26m

Documentary

List

68%

22 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

After Hungarian poet Hannah Senesh leaves the safety of Palestine to rescue Jews in her native country, Nazis capture and kill her.

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Maitland McDonagh

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Intent on seeing Senesh as a symbol of hope and resistance, Blessed Is the Match is content to focus on the tragic legend that her life became.

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 6, 2009

Full Review

Ella Taylor

L.A. Weekly

Roberta Grossman's film is an ungainly hybrid of straight-up documentary and ingenuous re-enactment.

Feb 5, 2009

Full Review

Christopher Long

Movie Metropolis

(The film) goes beyond the symbol to find the flesh and blood woman who sacrificed her life for her beliefs and her people.

Rated: 7/10

May 1, 2010

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Roberta Grossman's film gracefully integrates tasteful re-enactments into a straight-up documentary approach, but, deliberately steers away from the more interesting questions of Senesh's character ...

Rated: 83/100

Apr 16, 2010

Full Review

Phil Hall

IdentityTheory

An excellent tribute to a young woman who has been, for too long, an unsung hero of World War II.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 11, 2010

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Audience Member

A compelling documentary that told the story of Hannah Senesh, a young, idealistic Jewish woman and poet who returns to Hungary from Israel in the final days of WWII, to help her people escape from Hitler's Final Solution. In many ways, her story was similar to many others. "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" comes to mind, but each story is unique and bears telling. In this, the filmmakers wove archival footage with historical still photos and live action recreations of the events in her courageous, but somehow foolhardy, life. The tale it tells is fairly accurate because Hannah was a dedicated diarist who left a detailed record of how she wound up where she did. The tragedy, for me, is that she sacrificed her own young life; but in doing so she caused her mother to come to the attention of the authorities. That selfless action may have resulted in her mother surviving when so many others were shipped off to the death camps. I found this very moving, although it really had nothing new to say, except to remind us that there were many heroes of that period whose stories have yet to be told. I am glad I now know hers.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

walter m

"Blessed Is the Match" is a partially rewarding documentary about the life and times of Hannah Senesh who was raised in Budapest before emigrating to Palestine, like many other Jews in the years before World War II. It is there that she volunteers for a military mission to parachute behind enemy lines where she died at the age of 22. Even though the objectives of her mission were not achieved, the documentary points out that it was at least successful in giving hope to Hungarian Jews through a growing sense of Jewish nationalism, just as the Holocaust was becoming reality there. It is curious that the most pertinent information comes from background material. At the same time, I don't think we really get to know Hannah, with the emotional highlights coming from the testimony of survivors. Since a lot of the documentary is made up of dramatizations, it stands to reason that a more effective approach in telling the story of her life might have been a feature film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting portrait of an inspired personality.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

lovely movie a must see movie

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not seen by too many viewers, should have received more recognition.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Yes, surprise yet another SLIFF (http://www.cinemastlouis.org/fest) screening... This was AMAZING. A modern day Joan of Arc story. At the young age of 22 (and younger) to have such talent, such resolve, such kind courage. It was an exceptional documentary on the Hungarian poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, and resistance fighter. I'm so glad I saw it and know about this heroine I had never before heard of. It's not just the story that is exceptional, but the documentary mixed up historical footage, family photos/records, and re-enactments to give a 3 dimensional look at her struggle and her strength.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Roberta Grossman

Director

Joan Allen

Narrator

Sophie Sartain

Writer

Lisa Thomas

Producer

Marta Kauffman

Executive Producer

Dyanna Taylor

Cinematographer

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Synopsis

After Hungarian poet Hannah Senesh leaves the safety of Palestine to rescue Jews in her native country, Nazis capture and kill her.

Director: Roberta Grossman
Producer: Marta Kauffman
Screenwriter: Sophie Sartain
Distributor: Balcony Releasing
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 28, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 22, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $17.7K
Runtime: 1h 26m

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