The Memory of Justice

Ophüls brilliantly connects the atrocities of the Nazis to countless American Military Interventions. Although this was produced by Paramount, it's quite hard to find in the United States. Not surprised!

This was way too hard to find, and it's honestly a bit frustrating how obscure it is. Even though it's long and emotionally intense, Marcel Ophüls' The Sorrow and the Pity is similarly long and grim, and is fairly well-known/accessible. I feel like The Memory of Justice might be even better than his 1969 documentary, which I felt dragged a little in parts. It's also better than another Ophuls epic documentary, Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, which was admirable for its scope though really challenged my attention span (all three of these would make for an emotionally devastating and exhaustive trilogy). The Memory of Justice is also challenging, in regards to its length, but I feel like it used its mammoth runtime a little better, and it also felt more cutting and more powerful (to me at least).

Maybe it's the fact that it's critical of America that makes it controversial and kind of under the radar. It's about the complexity of justice and how the victor in a conflict often simplifies justice, and can come across as hypocritical in the process. It does this by linking the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany to those committed by others (mainly the U. S.) post World War II. It does this carefully, though, and I feel like you can compare the two without saying they're the same. And by no means is it sympathetic to the wrongdoings of Germany in WWII and the people who were on trial at Nuremberg. It merely points out how bad things were done by people on all sides (even if the severity of those deeds can vary), and how atrocities have been committed post-World War II.

I might be making it sound crass or simplistic, but the runtime allows for plenty of nuance, so I came away from this feeling like it was balanced, intelligent, and always solid at arguing its central premise. As a historical document for conflict in the 20th century, it's great, and for an exploration of the idea of justice, it's also compelling. It was exhausting, and I found some parts more riveting/interesting than others, but I still respect what an immense achievement in documentary filmmaking this is, and I feel like it's one of the better documentaries I've watched in recent memory.

Yesterday evening, Paris cinema Etoile, 23.00 : Two masters of documentary together. Accompanied by his friend of 40-years Frederick Wiseman (who insists on Ophüls' talent for quality interviewing), Marcel Ophüls tells the public that "the memory of justice" is his favorite own film and that it was a public disaster when it came out in 1976 in the USA... The public is still vibrant with the nearly five hours projection (although the version projected is a 10 years old TV recording in DVD - the only existing 16mm copy seems to be in Germany in 29 reels).

Very dense, tense and complex editing makes this film another fascinating film from the director. With wit and elegance, the film passes from one interview to another, focusing mainly on the lessons NUREMBERG trial left us, mainly through the point of vue of Telford Taylor (USA prosecutor at the trial) who as a character and in Marcel Ophüls' own words appears as "Mr Smith goes to Nuremberg" (he served also as historical adviser on the picture). Some Nazi talk to exonerate themselves, Albert Speer being the most controversial and in the same time most charismatic one. After having study NUREMBERG trial itself in the first part through archive images and long interviews of 1975's survivors of the facts, the film draws in the second part a parallel between Nazi atrocities, American exactions in Vietnam (contemporary to the shooting of the film) and French torture in Algeria...

A single review cannot contain all the complexity of the film but I was surprised no review had been written before. If you are lucky enough to see this title aired on TV in your country or projected nearby, please watch it or go to the cinema and bring young people with you in order to learn more together and start a discussion... (If I noted it 7 out of 10, it is because my personal impression of the film was that the second part lasted a bit too long and was a bit confusing in its first hour (third hour of projection))