Sunday, August 21, 2011
REALITY CHECK
Today's film, a NYTimes Critics' Pick was the documentary,
Decades after WWII, a film is found of the Warsaw Ghetto ca 1942.
It is unfinished. A carefully made documentary, for propaganda, by the Nazi administration. The ghetto had already been "built" and thousands of Jews interned there.
No one knows why it was made. It was never released. It was edited to some extent but not in a final form.
Jews were recruited to stage life in the ghetto, particularly to reinforce Jewish stereotypes but also to demonstrate the wide difference between rich and poor Jews and their lifestyle. In this way, the Jews are shown to be selfish, indifferent to poverty and the participants in strange and illicit rituals or practices.
For example, starvation, the fate of many ghetto people is shown to be a result of the corrupt rich Jews. Not of a matter of state policy.
Carefully contrived, it is not an over the top condemnation of the Jews but rather a believable "story" designed to create a justification for resettlement, separation and other state policies.
One problem. Along with the one hour reel are also outtakes and pieces of film that show the police rounding people up to appear in the film as well as several takes of the same scene.
One cameraman is found who provides the story of his work. Some living witnesses are still alive and comment as the film is shown. The journals of the appointed Jewish commissioner are read.
It is clear that deportation will proceed soon. To where? Not known.
As it occurred, the shipments to Treblinka occurred about three months after the film was made.
The film is tough to watch. The commentary harder to listen to.
What is fascinating is the reality of the streets which the film makers could not hide. One cannot, of course, be objective about it. We know what happened.
I am very interested in this period and have read a great deal about it. The film enlightens that previous study.
I would not want to watch it again.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
