Shoa
Review: Shoah is a 9 ½ hour documentation (director Lanzmann considers it not to be a documentary) primarily about Holocaust survivors. The film is set out over four discs and never uses any archival footage. The film focuses on four major areas of extermination: Chelmno in which gas vans were used to exterminate Jews; Auschwitz; the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and the Treblinka death camps. The film is made up of interviews and footage that Lanzmann shot when he visited Auschwitz, Chelmno, Treblinka and Warsaw. Holocaust survivors, eye witnesses, locals and ex Nazi officers retell horrific stories of the killings and genocide of the Jewish European population. One prominent interviewee by the name of Simon Srebnik was 13 at the time he and his family were captured. He was one of only two survivors from the Chelmno death camp and was forced to burn bodies and grind bones. He had to bury his family and then dig them up again to dispose of their bodies via the ovens. He was also made to sing on the riverside to entertain the SS soldiers. Srebnik was later shot in the head and left to die, but woke up a few days later and managed to escape. He died in 2005, aged 75. His story is probably the most horrific, yet he smiles for the camera and is quite content amongst a group of Polish people who are living it up for the camera and reminiscing about the Jews. These parts had me in tears, that this man had experienced all that and came away affirmed and noble. I don't think a piece of celluloid has ever made me feel so angry, confused, sympathetic, happy and proud to be a human being all at once. "Unfortunately “it’s only a movie” doesn’t work this time around." There are a few interviews with groups of Polish people, one consists of a group of elderly women who tell of their jealousy of the Jewish women whom were beautiful and never had to work due to their wealth. A wide range of people are interviewed, many nonchalant characters as well as people who tried to help the Jews. Some of the most interesting interviews were with Franz Suchomel: an SS officer who was stationed at Treblinka who recalls vivid descriptions of the carnage within the gas chambers. Suchomel was secretly filmed as he agreed to an audio video only. He stated: “More people kept coming, always more, whom we hadn't the facilities to kill. The brass was in a rush to clean out the Warsaw ghetto. The gas chambers couldn't handle the load. The small gas chambers. The Jews had to wait their turn for a day, two days, three days. They foresaw what was coming. They foresaw it. They may not have been certain, but many knew. There were Jewish women who slashed their daughters' wrists at night, then cut their own. Others poisoned themselves.” Lanzmann really pushes the interviews with the SS officers and does not let them gush about how they didn’t know what was going on, he does not care for their empathy. He is there to uncover their knowledge of the Holocaust and present us with first hand information from these perpetrators. If you are interested,you can read a transcript of Lanzmann and Suchomel’s interview here http://holocaust-info.dk/treblinka/franz_suchomel.htm Shoah provides a much more intimate look at the Holocaust; instead of using footage of dead Jews to shock, the emotion comes from the detailed stories from the survivors and are incredulously effective and haunting. The sweeping and lengthy shots of the death camps, ramps, train tracks, gas chambers, decrepit buildings and memorial stones are almost beautiful in a really desolate way and makes it really hard to imagine the incredible bloodshed that took place on those very spots. A big complaint about the film is that there are scenes that linger too long or are dragged out, but in context with the film these scenes signify the chaos that once was and the solace that now is. Whilst films like Night and Fog ( Nuit et brouillard) are much more horrific visually with images of starved and vacant victims, broken bodies and tractors ploughing through piles of bodies, the representation is almost so out of this world, it doesn’t register. The images are so unimaginable and inhumane that it’s easy to not be affected by them. I found the stories in Shoah to affect me much more because it was personal, I could relate to these people, I felt the emotion they emitted when they dredged up that horrific part of their life. They experienced my biggest fear: being controlled / captured / tortured or killed. I fear being unable to control my environment, and the fact that an innocent 13 year old got shot in the head and survived made me cry because if I was in that situation I would have charged an officer and got shot in the head. For such a heavy subject, there’s some great heart in the film. From the interview with the drunken train driver who drove Jews all across Europe to the death camps, the story of a woman who threw her pot at an SS officer because she wanted water; and the telling of the resistance, people who fought for their basic right to live are the light in this otherwise grim but beautiful telling of one of the most horrific events in history. "Forget the images you’ve seen, after seeing this film these stories will stick with you forever" Shoah is not the most objective of films, and there are a few places where I did feel the editing of Polish interviewees came off looking bad, and the constant interruptions of the SS soldiers, but for as much as I admire the SS soldiers and the ritualistic nature of their practices, they deserved to be interrupted because their compassion was bullshit. They knew Jews were being killed, they did nothing to stop it and were simply trying to save face. Whilst I can understand national pride and honour, I don’t agree with murder. I think each country is entitled to run things how they want, but murder should never be an answer to the problem, and this is where I do not sympathize with the Nazi’s. I do not think Germans deserve the stigma and slack they get because Germans suffered under Hitler too. Artists, writers, political activists and the handicapped also suffered, and deserve some recognition, except the country has to hush up about it and ban part of their history. Back to my main point- even though Lanzmann is very forthright with the so called ‘perpetrator archetypes’ he is very pushy with the victims, and asks very personal questions and pushes one survivor to tears. Lanzmann was right in the respect that their stories will forever mark these events and are stories that need to be heard, no matter how hard it is to talk about. Shoah is coined as one of the most important films ever made. Whilst I can see why this is said, I think it’s more of an important film to view. So many films are “important” and a lot of us don’t ever get around to viewing them, but I think Shoah is a film that anyone could appreciate in some respect: be it your needs to hear some horrific stories, you want to know a bit more about the Holocaust but can’t be bothered reading, or a general interest in the Holocaust or for those of you who like to watch films that deal with the incredible struggle for survival. As I have already mentioned, the film is focused more on survivors and does not even begin to cover the many aspects of the Holocaust, but for what it is it’s a very interesting watch. If only they could make an equivalent of Shoah for the Year Zero and Hiroshima. I know it sounds weird but I would be really interested in hearing those stories. Nine hours may seem daunting or a bit of a chore to get through, and there are parts that drag out, yet it’s worth the watch simply because this was a real event, with real people and you can hear their stories first hand in all the guts and glory. Forget the images you’ve seen, after seeing this film these stories will stick with you forever. Unfortunately “it’s only a movie” doesn’t work this time around.
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