Imaginary Witness
Encyclopedia
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust is a 2004 documentary film directed by Daniel Anker and narrated by Gene Hackman
that examines the treatment of the Holocaust in Hollywood films over a period of sixty years and the impact of the films on public perception and thinking, and vice versa. The film was originally produced for the American cable network, American Movie Classics.
According to Anker, he was inspired by the documentary technique employed in the film "Visions of Light
" --a documentary about films and film-makers—and made the decision to use extended clips from Holocaust movies to tell his story. He included interviews with some of the people who worked on the films he chose, including directors Sidney Lumet
and Steven Spielberg
and actors including Rod Steiger
.
As Anker shows in the film, Hollywood did not only tell stories about the Holocaust, it actually helped to document the war. "Directors Frank Capra
, John Huston
, Billy Wilder
, and George Stevens
all worked for the Army Signal Corps’ motion picture unit. So important did the US government consider their work that after liberation, film crews went into concentration camps
even before medical teams. In the portion of the film describing the initial screenings of their footage back in the U.S., a portion narrated by film editor Stanley Frazen and screenwriter Melvin Wald, Wald says that "It was the most horrifying thing I’d ever seen, because the inmates walking in their black and white uniforms were like ghosts," and Frazen admits that he had to leave the projection room to vomit.
(May 6, 2004), Newport International Film Festival
(June 10, 2004), San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
(July 27, 2004), Adelaide Film Festival
(February 21, 2005), Cleveland International Film Festival
(March 15, 2005), Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
(April 4, 2005), Iceland International Film Festival (April 11, 2005), Warsaw International Jewish Film Festival Ha-Motiv Ha-Jehudi (May 23, 2005), and the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival (November 25, 2007). Its U.S. TV premiere was April 5, 2005.
The late 2007 release date is attributed to the fact that it was originally made for cable TV, and then only later screened in theaters for a short time before the release of the DVD.
, The Great Dictator
, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Schindler's List
.
The movie website includes this description:
Movie reviewer Mark Deming, writing for All Movie Guide wrote:
In addition to excerpts from Hollywood films, the documentary includes official military newsreel footage of thirteen studio moguls who traveled to Europe to witness personally the evidence of Nazi atrocities at the invitation of General Eisenhower
.
Eisenhower, who wrote to Chief of Staff George Marshall
that he had personally visited Ohrdruf concentration camp "in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda," sent out invitations to journalists, photographers, and film makers from both the United States and England. He explained his belief that permanent documentation of the atrocities American forces had uncovered was crucial for many reasons, including the fact that, "We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."
This documentary has been recognized as a chronicle not only of an important element of film history, but also of world history. As one review put it, "This ambitious documentary provides not only a survey of Hollywood films about the Holocaust, but also a history of the Holocaust itself, and of the main cultural currents that characterized pre- and postwar America. The result is a frank, complex look at how the film industry both influences and is in turn influenced by the culture at large."
," in which a woman is reunited with her sister, who she thought had died in the Holocaust; documentaries such as "Kitty: Return to Auschwitz
"; some excerpts from films not directly depicting the Holocaust but related to its memory, such as the miniseries "Roots
," which paved the way for the miniseries, "Holocaust," or "Objective, Burma!
, an example of a World War II
film depicting the War in the Pacific
; even one Looney Tunes
cartoon, "The Ducktators
"; and excerpts from feature films with direct Holocaust content. These Holocaust films include:
In addition to the interviews specifically conducted for the documentary, clips of many other individuals are included within newsreels and tevision discussions that are included in the film, such as Holocaust survivor Benjamin Meed
and Rabbi Joachim Prinz
, former religious leader of the Berlin Synagogue.
review website.
Critical praise for the documentary included The New York Times, which called the film a "devastating, impressively reflective documentary." The reviewer for New York's "Newsday" wrote that the film "Reduced me to tears... A powerful documentary that examines how a movie industry that ordinarily traffics in fantasy has dealt with the hideous reality of Hitler's genocidal campaign against the Jews."
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
that examines the treatment of the Holocaust in Hollywood films over a period of sixty years and the impact of the films on public perception and thinking, and vice versa. The film was originally produced for the American cable network, American Movie Classics.
Background
Director and film-maker Daniel Anker's father was a refugee from Germany, and many of his relatives, including his great-grandfather, uncle, and cousin died in the Holocaust, but he had not considered making a film on the subject until AMC approached him with the idea. His past projects on issues including campaign finance reform and racism, convinced the AMC leadership that he was the right person for the project, and they agreed to leave "the specifics of the project to him."According to Anker, he was inspired by the documentary technique employed in the film "Visions of Light
Visions of Light
Visions of Light is a 1992 documentary film directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels. The film is also known as Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography....
" --a documentary about films and film-makers—and made the decision to use extended clips from Holocaust movies to tell his story. He included interviews with some of the people who worked on the films he chose, including directors Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
and Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and actors including Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
.
As Anker shows in the film, Hollywood did not only tell stories about the Holocaust, it actually helped to document the war. "Directors Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
, John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
, and George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
all worked for the Army Signal Corps’ motion picture unit. So important did the US government consider their work that after liberation, film crews went into concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
even before medical teams. In the portion of the film describing the initial screenings of their footage back in the U.S., a portion narrated by film editor Stanley Frazen and screenwriter Melvin Wald, Wald says that "It was the most horrifying thing I’d ever seen, because the inmates walking in their black and white uniforms were like ghosts," and Frazen admits that he had to leave the projection room to vomit.
Release
Although the official US film release is recorded as December 25, 2007, it was shown earlier than that at a number of film festivals, including: Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
(May 6, 2004), Newport International Film Festival
Newport International Film Festival
Newport International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1998 .The Newport Film Festival was generally held the first week in June and featured various international films at several local cinemas...
(June 10, 2004), San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world. The three-week summer festival is held in San Francisco, California, usually at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and other cinemas in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Rafael, and Palo Alto, and features...
(July 27, 2004), Adelaide Film Festival
Adelaide Film Festival
The Adelaide Film Festival is a biennial and non-competitive film festival held over two weeks in late February, in Adelaide, South Australia....
(February 21, 2005), Cleveland International Film Festival
Cleveland International Film Festival
The Cleveland International Film Festival, first held in 1977, is the largest film festival in Ohio. The 2010 festival featured over 300 films. Since 1991 the festival has been held at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland.-Roxanne T...
(March 15, 2005), Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Images of the 21st Century is a film festival specialising in documentary films which takes place every March in Thessaloniki and is affiliated with the International Thessaloniki Film Festival.-History:...
(April 4, 2005), Iceland International Film Festival (April 11, 2005), Warsaw International Jewish Film Festival Ha-Motiv Ha-Jehudi (May 23, 2005), and the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival (November 25, 2007). Its U.S. TV premiere was April 5, 2005.
The late 2007 release date is attributed to the fact that it was originally made for cable TV, and then only later screened in theaters for a short time before the release of the DVD.
Content
"Imaginary Witness" includes scenes from over forty films and newsreels, and interviews with leading scholars, filmmakers, and Holocaust witnesses, to show how films portrayed Holocaust events, reflected public sentiment, or helped to shape it. It explores "the question of how an industry that sells fantasy has dealt with one of the most horrifying episodes in modern world history, but also how the movies themselves reflect America's ever-evolving relationship to the events of that era." Among the many films excerpted for the documentary are The Mortal StormThe Mortal Storm
The Mortal Storm is a drama film from MGM starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.-Production background:...
, The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
.
The movie website includes this description:
At the core of the film is an ethical and moral debate about portrayal. Is it even possible to imagine on screen the unimaginable? Should the movie industry even undertake such an endeavor? Ultimately, the film asks hard questions: about the uneasy relationship between American popular culture and the Holocaust, about the responsibility of filmmakers in their portrayal of history, and about the power of film to affect the way we look at ourselves.
Movie reviewer Mark Deming, writing for All Movie Guide wrote:
The American film industry took it upon itself to act as a cheerleader for United States and Allied military interests during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but Hollywood was initially reluctant to directly condemn Nazi anti-SemitismAnti-SemitismAntisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, and it wasn't until years after the war ended that American filmmakers began offering a realistic, dramatic look at the horrible toll of Hitler's "final solutionFinal SolutionThe Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
." Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust is a documentary which examines how filmmakers reacted to German scapegoating of Jews before, during, and after the war, ranging from the boldness of Confessions of a Nazi Spy and The Mortal Storm (both of which were produced before America entered the war) to more oblique statements during the war itself, and then finally leading to an honest portrayal of the full consequences of the Holocaust beginning in the '50s.
In addition to excerpts from Hollywood films, the documentary includes official military newsreel footage of thirteen studio moguls who traveled to Europe to witness personally the evidence of Nazi atrocities at the invitation of General Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
.
"It felt to us like a seminal moment," says Anker who uncovered documents
in the personal files of Jack WarnerJack WarnerJack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
at USC. The message of the trip was clear: go home
and bear witness to these atrocities, and for a time newsreels did carry graphic images
of bulldozers burying bodies at Bergen-BelsenBergen-BelsenBergen-Belsen may refer to:* Stalag XI-C Bergen-Belsen , a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp* Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , on the site of the prisoner-of-war camp...
, an image that would be etched in the
collective memory of a generation of people. But Eisenhower's mission was not
accomplished and it would be decades before Hollywood would again depict a
concentration camp on screen.
Eisenhower, who wrote to Chief of Staff George Marshall
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
that he had personally visited Ohrdruf concentration camp "in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda," sent out invitations to journalists, photographers, and film makers from both the United States and England. He explained his belief that permanent documentation of the atrocities American forces had uncovered was crucial for many reasons, including the fact that, "We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."
This documentary has been recognized as a chronicle not only of an important element of film history, but also of world history. As one review put it, "This ambitious documentary provides not only a survey of Hollywood films about the Holocaust, but also a history of the Holocaust itself, and of the main cultural currents that characterized pre- and postwar America. The result is a frank, complex look at how the film industry both influences and is in turn influenced by the culture at large."
Featured films
The documentary includes newsclips from newsreels, from footage of liberated camps to events such as a conference in Jerusalem of Holocaust survivors; clips from television productions including one episode of "This is Your LifeThis Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
," in which a woman is reunited with her sister, who she thought had died in the Holocaust; documentaries such as "Kitty: Return to Auschwitz
Kitty Hart-Moxon
Kitty Hart-Moxon OBE is a Polish-English Holocaust survivor. She was sent to the Auschwitz labour camp in 1943 at the age of 16, where she survived for two years, and was also imprisoned at other camps...
"; some excerpts from films not directly depicting the Holocaust but related to its memory, such as the miniseries "Roots
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
," which paved the way for the miniseries, "Holocaust," or "Objective, Burma!
Objective, Burma!
Objective, Burma! is an Oscar-nominated 1945 war film which was loosely based on the six month raid by Merrill's Marauders in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War...
, an example of a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
film depicting the War in the Pacific
War In The Pacific
War in the Pacific is a 2004 two-player turn-based computer war game published by Matrix games. It is a very large, complex, and detailed simulation of the Pacific Theatre of World War II, at both the operational and strategic level....
; even one Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon, "The Ducktators
The Ducktators
The Ducktators is a Looney Tunes black and white cartoon that was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions and was released in 1942 by Warner Bros. Directed by Norman McCabe, the cartoon satirizes various events of World War II. The title is a pun on dictator.-Story:The cartoon takes place on a...
"; and excerpts from feature films with direct Holocaust content. These Holocaust films include:
- Black LegionBlack Legion (film)Black Legion is a 1937 melodrama film, directed by Archie Mayo, with a script by Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines based on an original story by producer Robert Lord. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ann Sheridan and is a fictionalized story about the...
- CabaretCabaret (film)Cabaret is a 1972 musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing National Socialist Party....
- Confessions of a Nazi SpyConfessions of a Nazi SpyConfessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated...
- CrossfireCrossfire (film)-External links:* review at DVD Savant by Glenn Erickson* film trailer at YouTube...
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- Gentleman's AgreementGentleman's AgreementGentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...
- The Great DictatorThe Great DictatorThe Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
- Harold and MaudeHarold and MaudeHarold and Maude is a 1971 American dark comedy film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama, with a plot that revolves around the exploits of a young man intrigued with death, Harold...
- Heroes for SaleHeroes for SaleHeroes for Sale is a Depression-era film directed by William Wellman, starring Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, and Loretta Young, and released by Warner Bros. A veteran of World War I, Thomas Holmes, struggles to make his way in civilian life in almost every way imaginable...
- Hitler's ChildrenHitler's Children (film)Hitler's Children is a 1943 American black-and-white propaganda film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and Irving Reis from an adaptation by Emmet Lavery of Gregor Ziemer's book Education For Death....
- Hitler's MadmanHitler's MadmanHitler's Madman is a 1943 World War II film about the assassination of Nazi Reinhard Heydrich and the revenge taken by the Germans. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal for PRC and Angelus Pictures, Inc. The shooting of Hitler's Madman took place late in 1942 and early 1943...
- HolocaustHolocaust (miniseries)Holocaust was a television miniseries broadcast in four parts in 1978 on the NBC television network. The series tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the Weiss family of German Jews and that of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless war criminal...
(NBC miniseries) - Judgment at NurembergJudgment at NurembergJudgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
, (Both CBS "Playhouse 90Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
" teleplay and feature film) - I Married a NaziThe Man I MarriedThe Man I Married is a 1940 drama film starring Joan Bennett and Francis Lederer. An American woman marries a German, only to lose him to the Nazi Party when the couple travel to Germany.-Cast:...
(alternate title: "The Man I Married")
- The Mortal StormThe Mortal StormThe Mortal Storm is a drama film from MGM starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage.-Production background:...
- None Shall EscapeNone Shall EscapeNone Shall Escape is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial...
- The PawnbrokerThe Pawnbroker (film)The Pawnbroker is a 1964 drama film, starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters and Jaime Sánchez and directed by Sidney Lumet. It was adapted by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin from the novel of the same name by Edward Lewis Wallant....
- The ProducersThe Producers (1968 film)The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
- The SearchThe SearchThe Search is a 1948 film directed by Fred Zinnemann which tells the story of a young Auschwitz survivor and his mother who search for each other across post-World War II Europe...
- Schindler's ListSchindler's ListSchindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
- Ship of FoolsShip of Fools (film)Ship of Fools is a 1965 film drama which tells the overlapping stories of several passengers aboard an ocean liner bound to Germany from Mexico in 1933...
- Singing in the DarkSinging in the DarkSinging in the Dark is a 1956 black-and-white motion picture about a Holocaust survivor suffering from total amnesia who comes to the United States...
- Sophie's ChoiceSophie's Choice (film)Sophie's Choice is a 1982 American romantic drama film that tells the story of a Polish immigrant, Sophie, and her tempestuous lover who share a boarding house with a young writer in Brooklyn. The film stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol. Alan J...
- To Be or Not to BeTo Be or Not to Be (1942 film)To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel...
- Tomorrow the World
- UndergroundUnderground (1941 film)Underground is a 1941 film about the German Resistance opposing the Nazis in World War II. Jeffrey Lynn and Philip Dorn play two brothers initially on opposite sides.-Cast:*Jeffrey Lynn as Kurt Franken*Philip Dorn as Eric Franken...
- War and RemembranceWar and Remembrance (mini-series)War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War...
(ABC miniseries)
Interviews
"After spending six months doing research, selecting film clips and writing a script, Anker and his team set out to do the 21 interviews that form the backbone of the film...Anker's goal was to get at least one major player from each film who could address the issues of that film." Those interviewed in the film are:- Norma Barzman, Screenwriter
- Michael BerenbaumMichael BerenbaumMichael Berenbaum is an American scholar, professor, rabbi, writer, and film-maker, who specializes in the study of the memorialization of the Holocaust...
, Historian - Robert BergerRobert Berger (producer)Robert "Buzz" Berger is an American film producer.Among other films, he was the producer for the Emmy award winning TV miniseries Holocaust.-Partial filmography:* 1974 The Missiles of October* 1978 Holocaust...
, Producer - Robert ClaryRobert ClaryRobert Clary is a French-born American actor, published author, and lecturer, best known for his role in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes as Corporal LeBeau.-Early life and career:...
, Actor and Holocaust survivor - Dan CurtisDan CurtisDan Curtis was an American director and producer of television and film, probably best known for his miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, his afternoon TV series Dark Shadows, and the made for TV movie, . Dark Shadows originally aired from 1966 to 1971 and has aired in syndication...
, Director - Stanley Frazen, Film editor
- Neal GablerNeal GablerNeal Gabler is a professor, journalist, author, film critic and political commentator.He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and holds advanced degrees in film and American culture.-Journalist:...
, Historian - Annette Insdorf, Film historian
- Sidney LumetSidney LumetSidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
, Director - Branko LustigBranko LustigBranko Lustig is a prominent Croatian Jewish film producer. He is the only person born in Croatia to have won two Academy Awards.-Early life:...
, Film producer and Holocaust survivor - Abby MannAbby MannAbby Mann was an American film writer and producer.-Life and career:Born as Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia, he grew up in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was best known for his work on controversial subjects and social drama...
, Screenwriter
- Gene ReynoldsGene ReynoldsGene Reynolds is a former American actor turned award-winning television writer, director, and producer.-Early life:He was born Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal on April 4, 1923 to Frank Eugene Blumenthal and Maude Evelyn Blumenthal in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where his...
, Actor/Director - Sharon Rivo, Film historian
- Thane RosenbaumThane RosenbaumThane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, and law professor . He is the author of two novels, The Golems of Gotham and Second Hand Smoke , and a collection of short stories, Elijah Visible Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, and law professor (http://thanerosenbaum.com/). He is the author of...
, Writer - Vincent ShermanVincent ShermanVincent Sherman was an American director, and actor, who worked in Hollywood. His movies include Mr. Skeffington , Nora Prentiss , and The Young Philadelphians ....
, Director and Holocaust survivor (at 96, the oldest person interviewed in the film) - Steven SpielbergSteven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Director/Producer - Martin StargerMartin StargerMartin Starger is a well known entertainment entrepreneur. He led ABC Entertainment during its boom period in the 1970s, pioneering the creation of television shows such as ABC Movie of the Week, Marcus Welby, M.D. and Happy Days...
, Producer - Rod SteigerRod SteigerRodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, Actor - George Stevens, Jr.George Stevens, Jr.George Cooper Stevens, Jr. is an American award-winning film and television writer, director, producer, and founder of the American Film Institute...
, Producer - Malvin WaldMalvin WaldMalvin Daniel Wald was an American screenwriter most famous for writing the 1948 police drama The Naked City, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story. He wrote over 150 scripts for motion pictures and TV shows including Peter Gunn, Daktari, and Perry Mason...
, Screenwriter - Fritz WeaverFritz WeaverFritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
, Actor
In addition to the interviews specifically conducted for the documentary, clips of many other individuals are included within newsreels and tevision discussions that are included in the film, such as Holocaust survivor Benjamin Meed
Benjamin Meed
Benjamin Meed , a Polish Jew, fought in the Warsaw ghetto underground, planned the 1981 World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and served on the Advisory Board of the President's Commission on the Holocaust....
and Rabbi Joachim Prinz
Joachim Prinz
Joachim Prinz was a German rabbi who was outspoken against Nazism and became an American Jewish leader...
, former religious leader of the Berlin Synagogue.
Structure
Interweaving the interviews and the film clips, the documentary describes how the history of the depiction of the Holocaust in Hollywood films can be divided into four distinct phases:- First: Hollywood’s reluctance to critique the rise of Nazism during the 1930s, during a time when its "self-policing Production Code expressly forbade any unfair depictions of other nations, particularly when economic interests were at stake." The documentary shows that the one exception during this phase was Charlie ChaplinCharlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's 1940 film, "The Great DictatorThe Great DictatorThe Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
." - Second: films made during the years of the war, most of which focused on the war in the Pacific. Films that dealt directly with Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, such as the 1944 film "Tomorrow the World," usually focused on the certain victory of democracyDemocracyDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
over fascismFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. Only some of the so-called lower-budget "B movies" like the 1944 film "None Shall EscapeNone Shall EscapeNone Shall Escape is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial...
" "dared to directly address the Final Solution," often because these movies "tended to fall below the radar of the Production Code." - Third: During the early post-war years, in the aftermath of the films produced by the U.S. Army's Signal Corps Motion Picture Units following the liberation of the concentration camps, films began to incorporate the atrocities of the Holocaust into films. However, after two 1947 films that dealt directly with anti-semitism, "CrossfireCrossfireA crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
" and "Gentleman's AgreementGentleman's AgreementGentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film about a journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to conduct research for an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut...
," films became all-but-silent during the late 1940s and 1950s on the subject of the Holocaust. Even the Signal Corps footage "was put away in favor of courting the new post-Nazi German market." During this time, some treatment of the Holocaust did appear on television programs, although with strict restrictions: the TV-adaptation of the play The Diary of Anne Frank was produced based on the promise that "audiences would not be subjected to any Nazi horrors"; and when Playhouse 90Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
produced a TV version of the play, "Judgement at Nuremberg," the sponsor—the American Gas Company—required that the word "gas" never be mentioned. - Four: The fourth phase (and the phase that continues through the present time) -- direct confrontation with the history and events of the Holocaust—was ushered in by the television mini-series "Holocaust" in 1978. The documentary points out that it was the success of the television miniseries, "RootsRoots (TV miniseries)Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
," that first interested the American Movie Classics in a miniseries about the Holocaust, and the project was given the "green light" one week after "Roots" was aired. Although criticized by some organizations as reducing the atrocity to the level of soap operaSoap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, this miniseries turned out to be the first introduction of the subject to many members of the young generation, including those in Germany, where it had a powerful impact on the desire to learn more. In fact, as the movie points out, the airing of the miniseries in Germany led to new discussions of the event, and ultimately played a direct role on the decision of the government to cancel the statute of limitationsStatute of limitationsA statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
on war crimes which was due to expire in 1979. Among the major Hollywood films that would follow were Sophie's ChoiceSophie's Choice (film)Sophie's Choice is a 1982 American romantic drama film that tells the story of a Polish immigrant, Sophie, and her tempestuous lover who share a boarding house with a young writer in Brooklyn. The film stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol. Alan J...
(1982) and Schindler's ListSchindler's ListSchindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
(1993). As one movie review put it, "Unfortunately, as each remaining survivor dies, most people become more and more reliant on Hollywood's depiction of these events for our memory and understanding of what may be in essence incomprehensible."
Response
The film was an audience favorite at more than 50 film festivals around the world, and the subject of numerous discussions, panels, and conferences at theaters, universities, and museums around the world. As of January 14, 2011, it had received a favorable rating of 88% on the Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
review website.
Critical praise for the documentary included The New York Times, which called the film a "devastating, impressively reflective documentary." The reviewer for New York's "Newsday" wrote that the film "Reduced me to tears... A powerful documentary that examines how a movie industry that ordinarily traffics in fantasy has dealt with the hideous reality of Hitler's genocidal campaign against the Jews."
Awards
- 2004 Special Jury Award, Documentary Research, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
- 2004 Audience Award, Best Documentary, Hamptons International Film Festival
- Special Jury Award, Florida International Film Festival
- Award: Best Documentary, Festival de Cinema Judaico de Sao Paolo