By: JWBM
When one reflects on the rise of Nazism, it's commonly viewed as the extreme of one group of people deciding that other groups are inferior and must be experimented on or extinguished outright. It feels surreal to think it was taken to this level in the 1930s and '40s—a time when technology, sciences, and the arts were all flourishing and attempting to make us more enlightened human beings. While there were specific atrocities and nightmarish realities that led up to and were a cause to intervene with a second World War, this documentary is essentially a haunting reminder and remembrance of people and places.
This French made film—released in 1956—opens the doors to concentration camps and what they were capable of with earlier archive shots, along with some present footage then. These were ruthless, uncompassionate machines that stripped identities, robbed all hope, and made those cast under its shadow have a sense of worth to that of compost. To me, this was one of the clearest indicators that the bubble we live in can pop at any time. We're all just a thin layer away from being exposed to the darker side of humanity if not checked.
Reading excerpts and hearing testimonials is one aspect to get the message through as to what happened, though seeing the amount of frail, nearly lifeless people on the verge of death before your eyes is a harrowing experience in itself. What got me after a culmination of scenes, was where people died as mere skin and bones, and were then bulldozed into a ditch of sorts like a soon-to-be-forgotten waste of space and resources. It makes the mind race as to what those people would have become, and how another could so easily crush another if given free reign.
This documentary is eye-opening and is known for providing the naked truth as to what happened in visuals and commentary. This would be a no frills work if it weren't for the steady background music and poetic tellings of these people and places. It can be harsh and relentless with the amount of suffering and travesty shown, though it's purposeful in its intent and would be a disservice if it held back. This piece isn't necessarily well-rounded as a reporting tool of the surrounding events: there are no interviews, spoken first hand accounts, or even variants in tone. Being only 32 minutes in length, it often gets to the point and moves on; occasionally jumping around and providing some unintentional overlap. There isn't necessarily hope or contrast here either, though, if history took a different turn, things may have been decades of further inhumanity. With that, the message is clear.
Director: Alain Resnais
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: Youtube link
No comments:
Post a Comment