On the Subject of Holocaust Movie Making

 

Image by Slackerwood via Flickr

 

Having an interest in Holocaust movies/documentaries, I’m always on the lookout for what’s new in the genre. I managed to stumble on a viral trailer that’s currently doing the circuit on the web. Uwe Boll (best known for his video game film adaptions) has decided to take on the most sensitive subject of all, Auschwitz. Whilst I haven’t seen any of his movies, it sounds as though he’s really not the best person for the job. The trailer for Auschwitz, from first impressions, looks disturbing and disgusting all in one cheap slasher movie type heap. But Boll seems sincere in saying he’s made it to get the message across about what Auschwitz was really like. So, is the movie exploiting the horror of the subject matter purely for monetary purposes? Or is Uwe Boll really trying to give a perspective of the death camp that hasn’t really been touched on before? Stanley Kubrick abandoned the Holocaust film he was making because he said to make an accurate film about the Holocaust it had to be unwatchable, is Boll then trying to make something almost unwatchable -but for the right reasons?

I’m going to reserve judgement until I’ve decided whether I’m going to watch it or not. I may actually watch his movie, Dafur as this has received positive reviews and could give an indication into the type of route he’s taking for this movie.

I’m going to post the teaser trailer here just in case somebody wants to have a little gander. But BIG warning, it really isn’t for the faint-hearted, nor anyone who doesn’t want to feel disgusted or sickened by what they’re seeing. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, so don’t judge me for posting it. It’s purely for information purposes people! Remember what you’re getting yourself into before you do the dirty and click.

Related Articles

• Teaser Trailer: Uwe Boll’s Auschwitz (slashfilm.com)
• Nazi Zombies, Auschwitz And Uwe Boll [Nsfw] (kotaku.com)
• Uwe Boll’s Auschwitz – Haven’t the Jews Suffered Enough? (dreadcentral.com)

The Eyes and Ears of the Holocaust

Cover of Shoah

Spending a week in Poland I decided to take a trip to Auschwitz. As a teenager and right through to University the history of the Holocaust has been of interest to me and so taking a trip to the biggest and most horrific concentration camp of them all seemed like a necessity. It was an emotional trip, one that I wasn’t sure how I would handle, after seeing so many films which show the camp as it was, it was interesting to note that it really hasn’t changed in almost 70 years. Movies like Schindler’s List and The Pianist serve to provoke and encourage an emotional response in the viewer, even when they have no knowledge of the true story behind it, and whilst this does serve to keep the memory of the atrocity alive, it may not always help people to understand what exactly happened.

Spurred on by my recent visit, this weekend I finished watching Shoah (1985). A 9 and a 1/2 hour documentary by Claude Lanzmann. A chain-smoking visionary who spent 6 years searching for eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust, refusing to include historical footage and instead preferring to focus on human accounts and how the camps look in the 80s. The documentary moves slowly, taking in everyone from survivors to ex-Nazi officials, and some of the most harrowing parts are unspoken. When the camera zooms in on the speaker’s face, it’s easier to see the horror living behind their eyes, even 3 decades after the tragic events took place. This documentary, or at least parts of it, should be shown for educational purposes around the world. Along with Come and See (Idi I Smotri) this is one of the best movies to get across the complete and utter incomprensibility of what happened during the most terrible genocide the world has ever seen.

 

Related Articles

• John Farr: Never Again: Ten Great Holocaust Films You May Have Missed (huffingtonpost.com)
• Holocaust-denier barred from Auschwitz tours (sfgate.com)