Shoah (Part 3 & 4)

Claude Lanzmann’s epochal documentary about the systematic annihilation of the European Jews by the National Socialists is a milestone in cinematic  engagement with the Shoah and the question of the representability of Nazi crimes. In extensive interviews with survivors, perpetrations and eye-witnesses that are impressive as they are oppressive in their directness combined with lengthy shots of the locations of the crimes, Lanzmann succeeds in bringing the events of the past back into the present. “I was more able to get people to speak by getting into the role of the attentive listener rather than by asking questions. Later I learnt that you need a huge amount of knowledge to be able to ask in the first place.” (mg)