What They Found

This quiet documentary is drawn from historical footage. There's no hype, no glamour, no embellishment; the images on screen convey their own messages.

The voiceover is clear, measured, and feels authentic. Is it a recording of the cameramen, or an actor reading their words? It matters not, the words are a diary from the time, documentary in the true sense.

It's hard to tell whether the footage has been broadcast before, in other documentaries. Certainly there has been footage from Belsen before, but this felt new, more personal, individual moments amongst the mass horrors.

The true strength of What They Found is however paradoxical. It shows, it doesn't judge. It shares but doesn't dictate, it allows the viewer to see, to draw their own conclusions. You're not told what to think, not invited to hate, not given any direction about how you should respond.

That's something it has in common with Night and Fog, and it leaves that same sense of reflection, of inner disquiet. The black and white film conveys its own horror. It needs no condemnation.

Closing in silence, no music for the end credits was welcome. A moment to pause, recover.

I wont recover. Not tonight.

Audio testimonies and archive footage build in equal horror as the atrocities of Bergen Belsen concentration camp are shown; just one example of the mass genocide that took place in Europe under the murderous Nazi museum. Some thoughtful discussion is also raised on the complicity of others who knew or suspected these events were taking place. This documentary powerfully shows the result of a systematic killing machine, and is nothing less than haunting. Quiet, considered and uncomfortable to watch, this short film is a necessary reminder of humans capability for evil, and why never again matters still.