Auschwitz

I am not that surprised that the director Uwe Boll gave us such a film; all long his career, he was brave, bold enough to propose plots that no other director wished to do. This movie is not good at all, badly directed, bt the story of course outsanding in the treatment, hiding nothing at all, revealing the most unbearable details of the executions. This is so far the one of the only "fictional" movie ever made about Auschwitz and extermination - not concentration though - camps, and from the inside, from the hangmen's point of view. Not from the victims point of view; because in this case, you had hundred of films speaking of extermination camps, of course. But maybe in the sixties and seventies, there were several Polish or Czech movies, shot in black and white, very rough, bitter, austere, evoking this scheme; I guess I have reviewed some of them. Yes, I am positive, there are some, better done than this film, but I don't remember the titles, sorry folks. I don't speak of ZONE OF INTEREST or DEATH IS MY TRADE. The two most known films analysing the Auschwitz commander daily life.

The best I can say is that this gets people talking/thinking about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. That is why 2 stars, not one.

I have no idea if the intentions of Uwe Boll were noble. It doesn't feel to me like he was trying to be exploitative. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I'm not sure attempting to show the true horror of Auschwitz in this way is useful or necessary. Either way, if this is the best you can manage as "realistic" and suggest as coming anywhere close to the true horror of Auschwitz you should not have bothered.

Nothing looks or feels right. The trains are not dark enough or packed enough. All the buildings are totally wrong. I could go on and on and on....... Admittedly budget probably prevented giving any idea of the true scale of the industrial conveyor belt of death that occurred at Auschwitz, but given that why not zoom in and follow one or two people as individuals with much narrower focus? Or better still just stick with the interviews of german teens along with some of the facts and archive images.

The interviews and, for the most part, stunning lack of knowledge about the holocaust are the only compelling parts. The problem is I'm not convinced by this film that Uwe Boll's knowledge of this part of history is much better than the majority of interviewees.

Something like Son Of Saul is far more effective at achieving what Uwe Boll claims to have wanted to achieve.

This movie could've been so much more but fell way short.

This movie has nothing to do with reality. It portrays Germans as polite and cultured soldiers, but they were actually degenerates, mercilessly torturing innocent people. Also, the death in gas chambers is depicted in a gentle, theatrical way. In reality, people died in convulsions, writhing in their own excrement and vomit, amid horrifying screams of despair, pounding on the doors. Death in the gas chamber was absolutely terrifying and nothing like what the movie showed. Its historical and educational value is zero, and it actually distorts history. I doubt if the author's intentions were actually as they were portrayed at the beginning of the movie. It seems more like an attempt to conceal the true scale of Nazi terror and cruelty. Such a film might be suitable for children at best. For those interested in the true picture of this inhuman Nazi invention, I recommend the movie "The Champion of Auschwitz.

This is the worst film ever made about WW2 and the Holocaust. It's probably been shot at a farmhouse somewhere, no resemblance to Auschwitz whatsoever. The scenes are ridiculous, acting is dreadful. They didn't even bother with hiring enough extras to fill up a train cart and the gas chamber. It all looks like a field trip that ended up a bit badly.

Uwe Boll apparently wanted to raise awareness about the Holocaust with the younger generations in Germany, but has blundered monstrously. This is a joke, and instead of raising awareness it raises your lunch. In my case, it was just some yogurt, but bad enough nevertheless.

As noble as Uwe Boll's intentions might be, please use some quality cinema on the topic and numerous "genuine" documentaries. There's a lot of those about, high-quality and accurate ones, so just chuck this one out immediately. In case you were stupid enough to cough up some cash for this joke. I was, for one.