Category Archives: The Holocaust in Film

An initial viewing of “Life is Beautiful” (1998) may prompt an attitude that the film makes mockery of the Holocaust through the telling of a father-son tragicomedy. This is a naïve response. Life is Beautiful is neither a mockery nor … Continue reading →

The components Leni Yahil’s rescue triangle – acknowledgement, information and action – serve as a useful tool for evaluating the process of the making of the film “Schindler’s List” (1993). The result of this analysis positions its director Steven Spielberg … Continue reading →

That “The Grey Zone” (2001) strays from the truth and fails to maximize the conventions of filmmaking to tell a compelling story doesn’t make it bad film. That it delves into the bowels of the Nazi death camps more vividly … Continue reading →

“The Pianist” (2002) is a survival story. A duality of survival stories actually, that when married result in a film that is considered one of the most important recent films to address the Holocaust. Although it is the protagonist Wladyslaw … Continue reading →

Filmmaking is subjective. Documentary or narrative fiction, short or feature length, foreign or domestic, the primary constant in all films is choice. In “Conspiracy” (2001), acclaimed filmmaker Frank Pierson demonstrates he knows how to make decisions. Conspiracy, as a story, … Continue reading →

“The Harmonists” (1997) is a deceptive film. Not deceptive in that it’s false or misleading or because director Joseph Vilsmaier takes artistic liberty with the story of the personal lives of the group members and sometimes deviates from fact, but … Continue reading →

No doubt, a still photo has the capability of telling a story in a single frame. The moving images in a film however, are often far more transformative as their multi-sensory nature more fully engages the viewer in a dynamic … Continue reading →