Rent The Pawnbroker (1965)

Harlem Inferno. - The Pawnbroker review by Steve

Intense drama about the suppressed memories of a holocaust survivor (Rod Steiger) living among the violence and squalor of Harlem, NY. This was groundbreaking in its presentation of the Jewish survivors of the concentration camps in contemporary America.  

Steiger's performance feels authentic as the pawnbroker haunted by terrifying subliminal flashbacks. We also glimpse in these suppressed images, his present day traumas. The brutality of the streets. But his shop is a hub for laundering crooked money. In seeking to be passive, and desensitised to cruelty, he helps to sustain it.

He has become detached from society. A simple remark about his religion can only be answered in terms of 7000 years of struggle. But he is unable to relate to the historic suffering of black Americans. He is so numb he can no longer see the humanity in himself, or others.

Most of the film is shot in the pawnshop, with Steiger captive in the wire security cages. So it's a classic Sidney Lumet format set in a limited interior space. It is a powerful, very depressing film which gives an identity to a hidden, voiceless demographic through Steiger's potent, unreachable anguish.

No Change Given - The Pawnbroker review by griggs

The Pawnbroker is heavy stuff. Lumet really knows how to shoot a bruised soul in a brutal city—New York feels like it's closing in on every frame. Rod Steiger plays Nazerman, a Holocaust survivor numbed by grief after witnessing his family's murder. The film's exploration of his grief and isolation is both empathetic and contemplative. He keeps everyone at arm's length, but the city won't let him drift. Quincy Jones' score is a proper knockout—sharp, mournful, and totally in sync with the film's emotional weight, connecting the audience to Nazerman's existential struggle. Grim but gripping.