Francisco Boix: Der Fotograf von Mauthausen

I don't want to say something nasty about this movie; it would be unfair. The production design and overall work deserves much respect, but unfortunately there were a couple of elements that bothered me. First the characters of the prisoners look - at least most of them - rather good fed and athletics. But I know it is difficult to put lots of people on a crash diet, as Chistian Bale or Tom Hanks did in the past for their roles. Second, as in 99% of films about Nazis - army or Concentration camps - Germans are Always shown as idiots, and this for many details. Germans during WW2 were cruel, barbarians, everything you wish, everything BUT IDIOTS. If they had been so, they would have not spread so much terror in the whole Europe from Norway to Sicily - I Don't even mention North Afrika and Rommel's Afrika Korps - and from Atlantic coast to Russia....So please Don't confound Nazi ideology, which was of course totally idiot and criminal with master race, antisemitism, racism, and GERMAN discipline, order and efficiency spirit. So back to this film, it is not the best ever about concentration camps. I have seen Polish or Russian movies from the sixties and seventies, shot in black and white, far more realistic than this one. But it remains a good film, Don't misunderstand me. One last thing, I saw in the feature an interesting shot, showing four men in a car, with the camera just in front of the wind shield, a shot which was ofteen used by the great French director Jean-Pierre Melville; a shot very rarely shown since many décades now. At least I guess....Maybe this is a tribute from the Spanish director to Melville and his awesome ARMY OF SHADOWS. Which you have this shot, of course.

Along with "Schindler's List," this is a stark, brutal re-enactment of actual events in possibly the most brutal and horrendous of all the concentration camps, Mauthausen. The film faithfully chronicles a true story... perhaps too faithfully for the faint of heart to watch. This finely acted film, which must have been excruciating for the actors to work on, is a must-see for its historical value, not for casual amusement (there's nothing amusing about sadism, unless you're a Nazi). The recreation of scenes the real photographer captured is amazing for their detailed accuracy, and the film brilliantly brings the images, originally captured in black and white, to life. I rated this film an "8", which I deem a very high rating, only because production values were not of top-notch calibre... but, then, they really didn't need to be for this film. The setting, along with the acting, was perfectly believable as is, and you'll be sucked into a nightmare as soon as the film begins... and stay there until the last few minutes. That alone makes this film a huge success.

In 1989, I was 22 and visited Mauthausen. I met a Polish man there who had been a prisoner during the war. He was 75 and had not been back since. The travel guide was informing the group I was with, that there were three prisoners to a bunk. The polish man had to correct him, via his companion who translated, that there were actually 6 to a bed. There's no doubt that the Spaniards received far better treatment than the Jews did. It's evident in the film and some research reveals what horrors the Jews endured. We get a sense of the horror there but we never get a real close look at it. Perhaps that's for the best. There are other Holocaust films far more brutal than this one. I wouldn't even call this a Holocaust film.

Having said that, this is telling the story of the photographer and a true story at that, which is what makes it so compelling. People unable to relate to the characters or challenging the special effects, need to check their humanity. Some even criticise the treatment of the SS in the film. They were much worse in reality. Again, do some reading. Do people read anymore?

The second half of the film is more tense as the risks increase. They were brave in what they tried to achieve.

The stairs of death don't feature a lot but still, seeing them again gave me chills. The Kapos were brutal in all the camps. That depiction was accurate.

There are further stories of Mauthausen to be told but perhaps the reality was bad enough. The stories are out there if people dig around a little.

A solid film and a fascinating side note to a much broader, more horrific aspect of genocide.

Excellent excellent excellent, this is a must see movie, on the scale of large budget Hollywood flicks, with a limited budget. It will move you, and remember based on true account and pictures.

A film that brilliantly portays the true horrors committed by the Nazis and how the victims fought back. The filmography is quite elegant and so was the acting. The 6.5 rating(at the time of writing) is quite an understatement.