Brecht on Brecht 1961

Based on the true story of legendary theatre artist George Tabori’s memoir of his Jewish mother, who miraculously—and in a great act of personal courage—managed to escape deportation in 1944. Elsa, a 55-year-old unwavering Hungarian Jew had remained in Budapest to care for her asthmatic sister after her husband had been incarcerated and her sons had left the country. Finally, Else is detained and sent to the rail yard to be deported to Auschwitz—until she confronts a Nazi official and manages to obtain her release. Tabori, a collaborator of Brecht and Hitchcock, is best known for Brecht on Brecht (1961) and The Cannibals (1969). In My Mother’s Courage, Tabori subverted traditional narrative form while deconstructing conventional notions of heroism.