Alice Sommer Herz: Everything Is A Present

Alice Sommer-Herz survived unspeakable atrocities in her fourties -- including incarceration with her six-year-old son in the Theresienstadt concentration camp of Nazi Germany. She also held court (before, during, and after her imprisonment) as a brilliant classical pianist -- a skill that by all accounts helped her escape death. Given her unusual capacity to love and forgive those who wronged her -- even the Nazi guards and concentration camp commandants who brought her face to face with some of the direst evil the world has ever known -- Sommer-Herz sustains a reputation as one of the most remarkable women of any era. At the time of this biographical documentary's production, Sommer-Herz had reached her 106th birthday; she honors that occasion with onscreen reflections about what she has learned, including distinguishing between what is and is not important in life, grasping the importance or learning and growing, and retaining a sense of gratefulness for life's gifts.