Playing for Time

Why would a camp commandant want an orchestra? That is the puzzle facing Fania Fenelon (Vanessa Redgrave), a singer taken from the stage and sent to Auschwitz, where she and other musicians are told to play for prisoners on their way to the gas chambers. Alma Rose (Jane Alexander) leads the rehearsals. Fania has to work out how far she can go to stay alive, and what she must give up to do it.