Claude Lanzmann's nine-hour epic documentary film examines the Holocaust, which saw millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis in extermination camps. No archive film is used; instead Lanzmann depicts the locations where the atrocities took place and draws upon interviews with the victims, the perpetrators and witnesses to the massacre.
Claude Lanzmann spent over a decade shooting the 350 hours of interviews and location footage - he purposely did not use archive material - that were distilled into this cinematic monument to those who perished in the death camps and ghettos of the Second World War. Several decades on, the ruins of Auschwitz, Chelmno and the rest still induce revulsion, as do the remorseless recollections of the Polish peasants who remain tainted with the hatred that made the Holocaust possible. Yet this is also a testament to the survivors who refused to let their spirit be broken by the daily horrors they witnessed. Putting a face on inhuman misery, this remarkable achievement demonstrates film's unique power and its underperformed duty.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Claude Lanzmann |
