Shoah (1985)

A monumental 9½ hours epic that was 11 years in the making, Shoah is the definitive film about the Holocaust that presents a vital slice of human history without employing a single frame of archived footage in its imagery and paints an extraordinarily grim, utterly devastating & emotionally shattering account of the greatest evil of modern times through the collective testimonies of survivors, witnesses & even German perpetrators to cement its spot amongst the greatest & most essential documentaries to ever grace the film canvas.

Shoah finds director Claude Lanzmann & his crew on an ambitious mission to create something truly unprecedented. It is an exhausting investigation of the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War and attempts to provide a meticulously detailed portrait of the extermination process through the first-hand accounts of selected Holocaust survivors, bystanders & former Nazis (who were secretly filmed through hidden cameras) and although emotionally overwhelming at times, it is never morbid.

The entirety of the recorded document revolves around three topics. First is the Chełmno extermination camp where mobile gas vans were first used to murder Jews. Second deals with the massacre that was carried out on a daily basis at the death camps of Treblinka & Auschwitz-Berkenau. And the third is concerned with Warsaw Ghetto where Polish Jews were stacked into before they were all transported to the concentration camps. The shot of the interviewees are often replaced with modern footage of the aforementioned camps as they are describing the barbarity that unfolded there.

Accompanied by a translator, Lanzmann conducts the interviews in an encouraging but thorough manner, insisting on the minutest of details from the interviewees even when they break down while recounting the darkest periods of their lives. His persistence to get the most out of these people may seem cruel & disrespectful to some but it really helps in reflecting the gravity of the situation these survivors found themselves in and the suffering they underwent, plus the matching of their testimonies to the crime scenes that the film regularly cuts to adds a tremendous weight to the whole material.

Much is known about the Holocaust from historical records & written material but to get a first-hand perspective of it from the people who were actually there and watched it unfolding right in front of their eyes carries greater significance than anything captured on camera. Many of the events they describe in intricate detail is so disturbing & unfathomable that it is even difficult to imagine, and the pain of reimagining all that is even more gruesome. It is absolutely harrowing on few occasions but there are also times when it’s life-affirming and beautifully demonstrates the value of a human life, which was quite surprising.

Lanzmann also interviews Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg and the clarity & conciseness with which the notable scholar breaks down the Nazi’s Final Solution greatly assists in understanding the careful planning & secrecy with which the genocide was carried out. Shedding more light on how the extermination process was executed once the Jews reached the camps is former SS Franz Suchomel who was stationed at Treblinka during the war, while the grisly details of the gas chambers, how it worked & the rate at which those victims’ bodies were reduced to ashes are provided by the surviving Sonderkommandos, the Jewish work force that was tasked to dispose the corpses.

Shoah isn’t an easy sit by any means. Its 9½ hours of final print, derived from 350 hours of raw footage, is exhausting & emotionally draining but none can deny its importance. The very absence of archived materials & reliance only on oral recordings allows the viewers to imagine the unimaginable portrait entirely by themselves, and it is as powerfully moving as it is haunting. An interest in the subject matter does make the ride easier & engaging to an extent but it’s an epic remembrance that deserves to be seen by all. Undeniably the quintessential film about the Holocaust, definitely one of the most shattering human documents ever recorded, and arguably the greatest documentary in existence, Claude Lanzmann’s magnum opus is essential viewing in every sense of the word.

The Pianist (2002)

Winner of Palme d’Or at 2002 Cannes Film Festival & three Academy Awards including Best Director, crafted with meticulous care & attention to detail, told with immaculate sensitivity and presenting an objective take on the disturbing subject of Holocaust despite being helmed by a Holocaust survivor himself, The Pianist is the most aesthetic, artistic & personal film esteemed filmmaker Roman Polanski has made in his directional career plus it also happens to feature one of modern cinema’s most astounding performances.

Based on the autobiography of the same name and set in Warsaw, Poland during the Second World War, The Pianist tells the story of Władysław Szpilman; a Polish-Jewish musician who after witnessing the deportation of his entire family to Nazi extermination camps tries to elude capture by hiding in the ruins of his city. The plot details his miraculous survival throughout the remaining years of the last great war which never would have come to fruition if it wasn’t for the kindness of many compassionate people & enormous amount of good luck.

Directed by Roman Polanski, The Pianist does bring back the horrors of the Holocaust in unflinching detail and never really shies away from depicting the brutality that millions of people underwent during Nazi occupation but it isn’t a tale about any war hero who started an uprising against his oppressors or any compassionate human being who put his life on the line to save others. It’s the story of an ordinary man who did what anyone under the same situation would choose to do: Survive, no matter what it takes. And through Szpilman, it aims to represent the plight of many others.

Polanski also infuses elements of his own life into the story but doesn’t get carried away or let it distract his envisioned version of the narrative at hand, and therein lies the true beauty of this cinema. Bringing more reinforcement into the story is the brilliantly adapted screenplay by Ronald Harwood which keeps the focus on our protagonist at all times and patiently develops the arc of his character which pays off amazingly well when audience shows no hesitation in investing their emotions into that character. And the excellence in the technical departments only end up enhancing the whole experience.

Production Design team does an outstanding job in duplicating the war-torn setting of 1940s Warsaw and every single set piece is wonderfully detailed. Cinematography makes impeccable use of its camera to capture every frame splendidly plus the cold colour tones only end up encapsulating the whole film with a bleak mood. Despite being nearly 150 minutes long, the story never feels dull or tiresome, thanks to the precisely carried out trimming in the Editing room. And from start to finish, the classical tracks incorporated into the picture fuse seamlessly with the sequences, with the best one saved for the last.

But that’s not all. For what catapults this already accomplished cinema to an even higher level of greatness is the extraordinary performance by Adrien Brody in the given role of Władysław Szpilman. Clearly demonstrating not just the painful feeling of hopelessness, loneliness & sorrow but also the desperation, survival instinct & everlasting passion for music while living under constant fear, what Brody delivers here is truly one of the most memorable performances to surface on the silver screen that remains the proudest work of his acting career, so far. And amongst the supporting cast, it’s Thomas Kretschmann who manages to make his mark despite his short screen time.

On an overall scale, The Pianist is an extremely distressing, emotionally devastating & powerfully moving cinema that marks the career-high moment for both Roman Polanski & Adrien Brody and is absolutely deserving of all the accolades it has garnered over the years. It definitely isn’t going to be an easy sit for many but you’ll be a better person for having done so because some films, no matter how disturbing, deserve to be viewed and Polanski’s magnum opus is definitely one of those cinematic treasures. One of the finest historical dramas in existence, The Pianist is Polanski’s greatest masterpiece that comes essentially recommended to every film lover out there. Don’t miss it.