There's something about the Holocaust that fascinates me in an obssesive, continous manner. I remember, having picked up the Britannica editions at home, the first pictures of the survivers of Auschwitz & Riga made my blood curdle. And then, I begun reading. My mind couldn't go around the amount of human cruelty inflicted by just one nation on 11 million people.
I am not alone in that fascination. Hollywood filmmakers, right from the onset of Nazi rule in Germany, have been ensnared by the fodder provided by the progression of the moustachiod monster & then, his cold, clinical hegemony over Europe.
I have diligently researched and caught up on the best of these films. (I am quite certain there will be more European films from this genre that I am yet to explore.) So far, there are some, which I consider absolutely priceless. And I would revisit them again & again. Even if the reader might frown upon the morbidity of this choice, I will argue, that for the sake of societal consciousness & for the sake of awareness, the Holocaust films should be watched by most of us. It's an episode in History, none of us should ever forget. But first, the films that embed the history on 70 mm.
1. The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin was exiled by FBI big daddy J Edgar Hoover after this film. Americans considered Chaplin's talkie a death knell on their flourishing business with the Aryan regime. But for Chaplin, this film was more than just a sacrifice of his American identity. Chaplin killed the tramp with this comedy. The tramp, talking, simply didn't work. Yet, in a Hollywood dominated by jew studio moguls who ignored Hitler's atrocities against their own community in Germany (except for Jack Warner), Chaplin's was the only voice that ridiculed Hitler & his horrifying 'final solution'. Watch it, if only for the scary yet comic scene of Hitler playing with a balloon shaped like the globe.
2. Schindlers List
The mastery of Steven Spielberg doesn't lie in the tragic imagery of thousands being dragged to the camps. It lies in the easy reflection of how the Jews had become fodder for alternate small scale industry. The gold fillings in their teeth, their thick hair, their nails- everything was utilised by the Nazi industrial behemoth. Each piece of jewelry was used to enrich the local commandent, even if it meant cutting off the fingers of the women sporting a wedding band (rather than waste soap in washing them off their hands.) After the gas chambers had killed them, Jew skin was used as hide. The rest of the details are too gory to go into. Spielberg, in his near silent black & white masterpiece, brought alive the mind numbing coldness of the Nazi solution to the Jewish people.
3. Sophie's Choice
Alan J Pakula's classic deals with the indelible after effects of the Holocaust. A performance by Meryl Streep that can hardly be bettered, Sophie's Choice is a must watch. It's hard to describe, her choices & her dilemma.
4. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
A simple, tragic tale of innocence that suffered the consequences of a war's sins, this Mark Herman film appeals due to it's direct approach. It also wins you over by not showing any of the actual exploitation & abuse on the Jews, rather, the mental impact of that on people from all strata of society. This one, too is a must watch.
5. The Boys from Brazil
A little known film starring veterans Gregory Peck & Laurence Olivier, the theme of this film is blood curdling. While the dialogues & acting is a little too theatrical for my liking, the theme deals with the chief doctor of Auschwitz, who's cloned 94 Hitlers and planted them across the planet during their infancy. All the boys are arrogant, aggresive, have a cruel streak, look similar with high foreheads & blue eyes. The idea of cloning is scary by itself .(For instance, a plan to clone my ex boss wouldn't benefit the planet). And to have actually cloned the bullied, deppressed adolf, is a brilliant plot point as much as it is fearsome. But then, the Nazis are known to have extended the realm of human guinea pigs to new lengths. They are supposed to have burnt most of the proof in the gas chambers. Thank god for that !
6. The Pianist
Roman Polanski's classic can't really be dubbed a Holocaust movie, as much as a single man's struggle to stay away from the torture & the waste. Yet, the compelling performance by Adrian Brody stays with you for days after you have watched his desperate attempts to escape a Nazi patrol. Besides, the waste of this musical genius makes you wonder how much the world lost due to Hitler's insanity. A warning though, the film's continous background score that occupies long periods of dialogue free screen time can test your patience a bit.
Nazi exploitation during the Holocaust has become a reference point for many Hollywood films over the ages. (Like the latest X Men film.) However, most of these films tend to be exploitative, milking the suffering of the concentration camp victims.
The films I have listed above have the potential to connect & disseminate this horrifying chapter in human history for centuries. They capture the sheer waste of human life, the irony, the absolute stupidity of letting Hitler rise & the consequences of hedonistic national pride in the real, simple approach that only cinema possesses. Give them a chance. And don't always keep the kids away. They need to know, so that, never again, in the history of the civilised world, do we sink to such animalism.
I am not alone in that fascination. Hollywood filmmakers, right from the onset of Nazi rule in Germany, have been ensnared by the fodder provided by the progression of the moustachiod monster & then, his cold, clinical hegemony over Europe.
I have diligently researched and caught up on the best of these films. (I am quite certain there will be more European films from this genre that I am yet to explore.) So far, there are some, which I consider absolutely priceless. And I would revisit them again & again. Even if the reader might frown upon the morbidity of this choice, I will argue, that for the sake of societal consciousness & for the sake of awareness, the Holocaust films should be watched by most of us. It's an episode in History, none of us should ever forget. But first, the films that embed the history on 70 mm.
1. The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin was exiled by FBI big daddy J Edgar Hoover after this film. Americans considered Chaplin's talkie a death knell on their flourishing business with the Aryan regime. But for Chaplin, this film was more than just a sacrifice of his American identity. Chaplin killed the tramp with this comedy. The tramp, talking, simply didn't work. Yet, in a Hollywood dominated by jew studio moguls who ignored Hitler's atrocities against their own community in Germany (except for Jack Warner), Chaplin's was the only voice that ridiculed Hitler & his horrifying 'final solution'. Watch it, if only for the scary yet comic scene of Hitler playing with a balloon shaped like the globe.
2. Schindlers List
The mastery of Steven Spielberg doesn't lie in the tragic imagery of thousands being dragged to the camps. It lies in the easy reflection of how the Jews had become fodder for alternate small scale industry. The gold fillings in their teeth, their thick hair, their nails- everything was utilised by the Nazi industrial behemoth. Each piece of jewelry was used to enrich the local commandent, even if it meant cutting off the fingers of the women sporting a wedding band (rather than waste soap in washing them off their hands.) After the gas chambers had killed them, Jew skin was used as hide. The rest of the details are too gory to go into. Spielberg, in his near silent black & white masterpiece, brought alive the mind numbing coldness of the Nazi solution to the Jewish people.
3. Sophie's Choice
Alan J Pakula's classic deals with the indelible after effects of the Holocaust. A performance by Meryl Streep that can hardly be bettered, Sophie's Choice is a must watch. It's hard to describe, her choices & her dilemma.
4. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
A simple, tragic tale of innocence that suffered the consequences of a war's sins, this Mark Herman film appeals due to it's direct approach. It also wins you over by not showing any of the actual exploitation & abuse on the Jews, rather, the mental impact of that on people from all strata of society. This one, too is a must watch.
5. The Boys from Brazil
A little known film starring veterans Gregory Peck & Laurence Olivier, the theme of this film is blood curdling. While the dialogues & acting is a little too theatrical for my liking, the theme deals with the chief doctor of Auschwitz, who's cloned 94 Hitlers and planted them across the planet during their infancy. All the boys are arrogant, aggresive, have a cruel streak, look similar with high foreheads & blue eyes. The idea of cloning is scary by itself .(For instance, a plan to clone my ex boss wouldn't benefit the planet). And to have actually cloned the bullied, deppressed adolf, is a brilliant plot point as much as it is fearsome. But then, the Nazis are known to have extended the realm of human guinea pigs to new lengths. They are supposed to have burnt most of the proof in the gas chambers. Thank god for that !
6. The Pianist
Roman Polanski's classic can't really be dubbed a Holocaust movie, as much as a single man's struggle to stay away from the torture & the waste. Yet, the compelling performance by Adrian Brody stays with you for days after you have watched his desperate attempts to escape a Nazi patrol. Besides, the waste of this musical genius makes you wonder how much the world lost due to Hitler's insanity. A warning though, the film's continous background score that occupies long periods of dialogue free screen time can test your patience a bit.
Nazi exploitation during the Holocaust has become a reference point for many Hollywood films over the ages. (Like the latest X Men film.) However, most of these films tend to be exploitative, milking the suffering of the concentration camp victims.
The films I have listed above have the potential to connect & disseminate this horrifying chapter in human history for centuries. They capture the sheer waste of human life, the irony, the absolute stupidity of letting Hitler rise & the consequences of hedonistic national pride in the real, simple approach that only cinema possesses. Give them a chance. And don't always keep the kids away. They need to know, so that, never again, in the history of the civilised world, do we sink to such animalism.
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