The Optimists (2001) Online

Last night, my husband and I saw "The Optimists" and were so affected by the story we couldn't sleep for thinking about it.Why was it that the people of Bulgaria behaved so differently than most of the world toward their Jewish friends? That is the big question the film poses to the audience. Could this tiny microcosm perhaps be the answer tothe problems we are facing at our moment in history? If people really KNOW one another and are able to become fast friends, without losing their own identity, can this be the answer? In Sofia, all religions peacefully co-existed and the Bulgarians proved that there can be " man's humanity to man." A very thoughtful and well made film. We hope it can receive more attention.

The Film shows something what I have been missing in the last years: The human side of the human beings. Not only homo sapiens but also homo homos. If you want to find out some other dimensions of being human worth while, then watch this film. It will give you food for thoughts. Above all food for what we forget often: to be human beings.

I have forgotten that I saw this film on the 'Berlinale' Festival 2001 but yesterday I saw it with a couple of friends again and I was very pleased that I saw it again. It has some flavour, some point aiming at to which I have been missing in the documentary films for a long time.

The director must have done a lot of work on this film. It is fairly interesting. I saw the film with friends of mine yesterday and I am just wondering why this film has never been rated by anyone. If you get the chance to see it and you are interested in non-rational deeds which we call humanity, go ahead.

An exciting history about the rescue of the Bulgarian jews. And nobody was a hero, but a heroic mentality from ordinary people. It is hard to imagine that the savers of the Bulgarian Jews are their 'enemies': the orthodox church. But every church deserves its people and on the contrary.