Judith Aurbach (Sophia Loren) is an extremely rare survivor of a Nazi death camp. She is now(1948) at a refugee camp awaiting a chance to enter the prospective state of Israel. Her husband, Gustav Schiller, a former Nazi tank corps commander, is reported to be in this general area. Her primary goal is to find him and extract revenge upon him for revealing to the Gestapo that she was a Jew, thus fit to be sent to a concentration camp. She also is driven to find her son, if he is alive, also thought to be in this general region. The Jewish underground also wants to capture Schiller, who is reported to be heading the Syrian tank corps. They hope to extract what he knows about the Syrian war plans against Israel and the location of their tank corps.
Since there is no good photo of Schiller available to the Israelites, They want to bring Judith into the 'çountry' and use her to identify Schilling, should they encounter him. She is hidden in a secrete compartment of a crate, along with other things, and shipped to Israel, where her crate passes immigration inspection. She is sent to a kibbutz adjacent to a border with Syria. The Syrians occasionally fire ordinance into the kibbutz, mostly to remind the Israelis that they are there. Once, they fired missiles that set part of the kibbutz on fire. She hated most of the menial work assigned to her, and was not pleased that, once again, she was in the midst of a war zone.
The British military, preparing to soon withdraw from the region, is reported to keep a file on ex-Nazi war criminals, and which may contain information about the recent whereabouts of Schiller. So, how to obtain such information? It's decided that Judith will travel to Haifa, and try to 'charm' Major Lawton into handing over the relevant file. Seems like an impossible venture, but Judith eventually pulls it off. Now Judith, Aaron(Peter Finch), and a companion are smuggled into Damascus, where Schiller is reported to have been recently. Judith spots him at an outdoor café. He recognizes her, but can't believe she's alive. He doesn't let on that he suspects her, but follows her when she walks toward where Aaron and the other are hiding. When she stops in front of their hiding place, they acknowledge that they are who they think they are. Then, Judith pulls a gun and fires. Schiller falls, badly wounded. Judith is castigated for exercising her chance for revenge over the goal of capturing and interrogating him. Somehow, they smuggle Schiller out of Syria and take him to Judith's kibbutz, where he is interrogated.
He refuses to divulge any info the interrogates want. They know that physical mistreatment could easily kill him in his condition, thus the interrogators leave him for the day. But ,Judith later sneaks into his room and gets him to talk some, threatening him with another gun shot. He tells where the attack will mainly come from(Why couldn't this info be obtained from reconnaissance planes?). Schiller also mentions he knows where their son is, but delays telling where. I will stop my summary here, and let you see the climax, perhaps on YouTube.
This is a very implausible story, beginning with the chance that the Jewish wife of a Nazi general is one of the very few survivors of Nazi extermination camps. It's very unclear how the little team managed to smuggle a badly injured Schiller out of Syria. Also, the possibility that Major Lawton would hand over sensitive files to Judith(even if she was Sophia Loren) seems preposterous. There are also a few instances when it wasn't clear to me what was going on. On the other hand, it is an interesting story of the chances people will take to accomplish important goals, gives a fair exposure to what kibbutz are like, and has some good battle scenes.
Since there is no good photo of Schiller available to the Israelites, They want to bring Judith into the 'çountry' and use her to identify Schilling, should they encounter him. She is hidden in a secrete compartment of a crate, along with other things, and shipped to Israel, where her crate passes immigration inspection. She is sent to a kibbutz adjacent to a border with Syria. The Syrians occasionally fire ordinance into the kibbutz, mostly to remind the Israelis that they are there. Once, they fired missiles that set part of the kibbutz on fire. She hated most of the menial work assigned to her, and was not pleased that, once again, she was in the midst of a war zone.
The British military, preparing to soon withdraw from the region, is reported to keep a file on ex-Nazi war criminals, and which may contain information about the recent whereabouts of Schiller. So, how to obtain such information? It's decided that Judith will travel to Haifa, and try to 'charm' Major Lawton into handing over the relevant file. Seems like an impossible venture, but Judith eventually pulls it off. Now Judith, Aaron(Peter Finch), and a companion are smuggled into Damascus, where Schiller is reported to have been recently. Judith spots him at an outdoor café. He recognizes her, but can't believe she's alive. He doesn't let on that he suspects her, but follows her when she walks toward where Aaron and the other are hiding. When she stops in front of their hiding place, they acknowledge that they are who they think they are. Then, Judith pulls a gun and fires. Schiller falls, badly wounded. Judith is castigated for exercising her chance for revenge over the goal of capturing and interrogating him. Somehow, they smuggle Schiller out of Syria and take him to Judith's kibbutz, where he is interrogated.
He refuses to divulge any info the interrogates want. They know that physical mistreatment could easily kill him in his condition, thus the interrogators leave him for the day. But ,Judith later sneaks into his room and gets him to talk some, threatening him with another gun shot. He tells where the attack will mainly come from(Why couldn't this info be obtained from reconnaissance planes?). Schiller also mentions he knows where their son is, but delays telling where. I will stop my summary here, and let you see the climax, perhaps on YouTube.
This is a very implausible story, beginning with the chance that the Jewish wife of a Nazi general is one of the very few survivors of Nazi extermination camps. It's very unclear how the little team managed to smuggle a badly injured Schiller out of Syria. Also, the possibility that Major Lawton would hand over sensitive files to Judith(even if she was Sophia Loren) seems preposterous. There are also a few instances when it wasn't clear to me what was going on. On the other hand, it is an interesting story of the chances people will take to accomplish important goals, gives a fair exposure to what kibbutz are like, and has some good battle scenes.