Holocaust related movies

[CARL]

BBC feature on the modern German films set in WWII, taking a look at director Christian Petzold's new work "Phoenix", which tells the story of a former camp inmate and her struggles following the immediate end of the war.

BBC - Culture - Christian Petzold: How Germans today confront the Nazis

note: update, the film mentioned "Phoenix" is worth watching.

[CARL]

Watched this new one from BBC last night - trailer linked below, as is a BBC page featuring the work. Well worth watching, an excellent production.

The Eichmann Show: Trailer - BBC Two - YouTube

BBC Two - The Eichmann Show

[maxxx]

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SteveR]

"The Grey Zone" - already listed above by Carl - is an outstanding film, which I can fully recommend.

Needless to say - for all its deep humanity and moments of hope-against-hope and of inspiration - this is an intense, dark tragedy that goes straight for the viewer's heart and throat.

The title can be read in many ways, as most of the protagonists move in grey zones... Such as the doctor, who is somewhere between a victim and a collaborator and the men of the Sonderkommando who exist between life and death.
Also, many of the characters are confronted with difficult moral choices; dilemmas for which the film offers no easy answers to the viewer, either.
Visually supporting this, much of the imagery is also dominated by cold and depressing shades of grey, such as many a scene in the concrete rooms and hallways of the crematoria complex.

The film has an extraordinarily strong cast down to the smallest supporting roles, but the portrayal that impressed me most is Harvey Keitel's Oberscharführer Muhsfeldt.

This is not a one-dimensional movie psycho; here is a man who derives no pleasure from his work. In his long dialogues with the doctor, we learn that he suffers from permanent headaches, sleeplessness and nightmares and that he drinks way too much. (Indeed, he reaches for a glass of brandy or a hip flask in most of his scenes.) He clearly hates what he does... But, it is his duty and to this simple-minded, thick-necked, unintelligent type, that is all that matters. To refuse orders or to even attempt getting out of it all is, literally, unimaginable to him. And so he carries on with his murderous work. Without joy, but ever so efficient and reliable.

Ultimately, this is a much more powerful and believable portrayal than the all-too-often seen cartoon-villain/movie-psycho Nazis. It is also quite an accurate depiction of the men who made up the majority of the camp guards.

See: The Grey Zone (2001) - IMDb

Very inciteful critique of an intricate piece of dramatic art.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I do not see here some of the earlier works in their variety, which were not so much drama in the conventional format that began in Holocaust in the 1970s, but "Die Moerder Sind Unter Uns," "Night and Fog,"
"Mein Kampf" and "Shoah," as well as the documentaries made for denazification, die Totesmuehlen, which are essential. And, of course, you should also mention the films that were a Nazi weapon to achieve the propagandistic
isolation of Jews, not the least Harlan's Jued Suess.
One of my betters here can offer the summations of these. I am also dating myself, but such is life.

PS Whoops. Some of these were mentioned. The Night and Fog film was, as one other person here noted, a kind of revolution for its time.
The late 1950s are a kind of water shed in the public perception and collective memory of these events.
There is a new German film about the beginning of the Ludwigsburg public prosecutor and the trials of mass murderers in, I think, 1958
that I want to see.

I think the DEFA Moerder Unter Uns counts among the beginning of this sort of thing that has become legion.

see here:

Mature Content

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The "mature content" is right, but it is not about fornication.

Rather the opposite.

[GeneralPutnam]

Hey Guys,
since I had members of my family parish in the camps I treat this subject with great reverence.
furthermore it comes to ww2 films it takes a lot for me to actually actively recommend it. For 3 reasons #1 I don't to waste forum members time and #2 since members have at least above average knowledge, I hope the films I recumbent interest newbies and vet collectors and provides solid info. #3 just because a film is long or has many episodes doesn't mean its well done and not filled fluff.
furthermore since I had members of my family parish in the camps I treat this subject with great reverence.

I previously recommended Hitlers children about the HJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2O9WB8MRMc which is 5 hours, in five episodes. IMO all around solid, great info and a largely middle of the road. For me it was a pretty good almost encyclopedic introduction to a subject that has very few documentaries.

My contribution to Holocaust related movies my contribution to the thread is called

Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (2005) - from instantwatcher.com I know it is available on Netflix I am not sure if it on you tube or available for download ect.


This documentary is six parts and the total run time is approximately 6 hours.

The film itself is pretty darn exhaustive actually it is ridiculously exhausted and detailed.

I am positive even the most historically educated forum member will see things in the series that they never knew before.

[HPL2008]

I think the DEFA Moerder Unter Uns counts among the beginning of this sort of thing that has become legion.

Speaking of DEFA productions, Nackt unter Wölfen (Naked Among Wolves) also comes to mind:

Naked Among Wolves (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Incidentally, it has now been remade for television. This production is the follow-up project of the makers of the award-winning miniseries Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (Generation War). The film will air next Wednesday (1 April) on ARD and be released on DVD/BD the next day:

Nackt unter W

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks, Andreas, for keeping us up to date.

[CARL]

Thank you Andreas. Indeed, the makers of Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter did a fine job. I look forward to seeing their work on Nackt unter Wölfen. For certain, if it is even half as good as its predecessor, it will be well worth watching.