At the very least, seeing this film was a unique experience.
In terms of the literal technical aspects of the film, it seems like fairly standard stuff for a film made in the late 40's. It's shot decently, with some shots sticking out in my mind. It's edited kinda poorly, but it felt like a lot of that was because of how poorly the film was preserved so that each stretch of more than five minutes was its own reel and most of them weren't connected perfectly. The score was pretty basic and formulated, but that's to be expected. As far as criticism on the technical end though, that's as far as I can go.
This is a film that is basically exempt from criticism in a lot of areas, primarily because it's a holocaust film made by people who survived the holocaust, starring people who survived the Holocaust, and being filmed in the places and conditions that the actual Holocaust took place in, and just a few years after as well. This movie serves as a document to preserve the memory of the atrocities of the Nazi Regime and to warn the world not to repeat its mistakes.
Even more damning for those looking to criticize this film is that it was made by the first female Polish director under the USSR occupied Poland, meaning that there's a lot of issues from that. For one, it didn't get the funding that would have been required to capture the scale and brutality of the events of the Holocaust. But another, perhaps more important point, is that due to the nature of the occupation, the movie had to have a pro-Soviet message that painted the Red Army as good guys, and not opportunistic oppressors. On top of that, to make the film more inclusive, none of the characters in the film are Jewish, instead opting to tell a story about people who are from different countries fighting against the Nazis or Communists or something. It's incredibly strange and disingenuous looking back and knowing how a story like this should play out, but it isn't the film's fault that it was warped into a propoganda piece.
The only real criticism that I have of this film is on a storytelling level. The characters, for several reasons, such as the size of the cast, are never individually developed and fleshed out, which leaves us uninvested in many of the events of the film. We are more akin to omnipotent viewers than passengers on a terrifying and horribly journey into one of the most terrible things that humanity has ever done.
At the end of the day, like I said, it's still a film made just after the Holocaust, about the Holocaust, by people who survived the Holocaust, and starring people who survived the Holocaust, just that it's warped into Soviet propaganda.
I don't think I'd really recommend it unless you're really interested in this part of history, but if you are it's pretty good.
TL;DR - Seeing them filming in Aschuwitz after having been there myself and knowing the grounds and seeing them used for this film was a trip
At the very least, seeing this film was a unique experience.
In terms of the literal technical aspects of the film, it seems like fairly standard stuff for a film made in the late 40's. It's shot decently, with some shots sticking out in my mind. It's edited kinda poorly, but it felt like a lot of that was because of how poorly the film was preserved so that each stretch of more than five minutes was its own reel and most of them weren't connected perfectly. The score was pretty basic and formulated, but that's to be expected. As far as criticism on the technical end though, that's as far as I can go.
This is a film that is basically exempt from criticism in a lot of areas, primarily because it's a holocaust film made by people who survived the holocaust, starring people who survived the Holocaust, and being filmed in the places and conditions that the actual Holocaust took place in, and just a few years after as well. This movie serves as a document to preserve the memory of the atrocities of the Nazi Regime and to warn the world not to repeat its mistakes.
Even more damning for those looking to criticize this film is that it was made by the first female Polish director under the USSR occupied Poland, meaning that there's a lot of issues from that. For one, it didn't get the funding that would have been required to capture the scale and brutality of the events of the Holocaust. But another, perhaps more important point, is that due to the nature of the occupation, the movie had to have a pro-Soviet message that painted the Red Army as good guys, and not opportunistic oppressors. On top of that, to make the film more inclusive, none of the characters in the film are Jewish, instead opting to tell a story about people who are from different countries fighting against the Nazis or Communists or something. It's incredibly strange and disingenuous looking back and knowing how a story like this should play out, but it isn't the film's fault that it was warped into a propoganda piece.
The only real criticism that I have of this film is on a storytelling level. The characters, for several reasons, such as the size of the cast, are never individually developed and fleshed out, which leaves us uninvested in many of the events of the film. We are more akin to omnipotent viewers than passengers on a terrifying and horribly journey into one of the most terrible things that humanity has ever done.
At the end of the day, like I said, it's still a film made just after the Holocaust, about the Holocaust, by people who survived the Holocaust, and starring people who survived the Holocaust, just that it's warped into Soviet propaganda.
I don't think I'd really recommend it unless you're really interested in this part of history, but if you are it's pretty good.
TL;DR - Seeing them filming in Aschuwitz after having been there myself and knowing the grounds and seeing them used for this film was a trip
