Night Will Fall

This film describes in detail what we already knew about the Nazis. The details of their horrible atrocities need not be gone to in detail here, except as to the contents of the film, itself. Few people realize the immediate effects of the initial sight of the camps on American Generals. Patton toured one camp and emerged so outraged that several adjutants said that they had never seen him so angry. Eisenhower toured a camp and remarked that many US soldiers didn't know what they were fighting for, but now, he could show them what they were fighting against. The large responses to the holocaust were, "oh, it'll never happen again, now!" Look at Uganda 1994, and Serbia 1995. This will never stop unless somebody intercedes. It is the opening of the gateway to hell, with evil piloting the way. If this is not stopped in its tracks, the armies of darkness will march across the earth. It could happen to any one of us, if we don't meet the measures of a tyrannical police state.

As above, a factual and irrefutable documentary about the appalling conditions experienced in concentration camps, and the simply dreadful outcome suffered by so many of those who were interned.

The scenes were graphic and disturbing, and if they seem repetitive, then that is because the atrocities were so commonplace. It was not a performance, the film is a factual record, thus the purpose in making it was to educate those who want to know the truth, not to entertain anyone.

As the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz fell this week, I felt that this film serves to help educate all of us who who were not even born at the time of such events. To help us understand the depths of depravity that mankind is capable of, to help us to understand the dreadful consequences of any kind of racism and to remind us that it shouldn't be necessary to have a war to draw allies together (how many people are aware that a staggering 26M Russians were killed in the process of defeating the Nazis?)

A monumental and depressing work, brought together as a lesson to us all that this must never happen again

This is a miraculous film...miraculous in that it exists, but more than even that; miraculous in it's unadulterated depiction of the worst of humanity in wartime.

The dichotomy of war is depicted here. In Bergen-Belsen we see life struggling to be what life is and just feet away from piles of death as the corps were strewn. How can these two depictions of life occur so physically close? Only in the worst of war can such atrocities be present, if diversely repugnant. See this film and only trust your moral center as everything must be judged by inherent good.

The old adage that we are doomed to repeat history unless we learn from it comes to heart. Right now we have ISIS, a modern day Nazi style faction. Can we sit idly by and let evil fester. This film makes it clear that the cost will only exponentially multiply if good men sit by and do nothing. See this, weep for those lost at the hands of evil in the past, and renew your resolve that we must stand for good at this later day time where evil once more rears a powerful head.

A fascinating film. A horrifying film. To be clear this is not the documentary about SS concentration camps that was left unfinished, and suppressed after the war. That film can be seen elsewhere. To be clear, having seen that film, this documentary does leave out just a few key elements. The original film goes out of it's way to say these camps were not only for Jews and lists all the nationalities and religions that came to be killed here. So to say that film is about the Holocaust is not entirely true and is specifically not the point of the original film.

What this film does is set the discovery of the camps and the aftermath into context both large--the governments involved, and small--the military camera crews and even some camp survivors who are seen both now and in the vintage footage. A real feat to find these people so many years later.

Sure you may think you've seen this all before, both in fiction films and in various documentary ones. But this still packs a punch, perhaps even more so since you will think you already know all there is to know. I've spent a lot of my life studying WW2 and I was still blown away by this film. I'm also a Hitchcock fan, and his name is being used to "sell" this film and the restoration and completion of the original documentary.

A point made in this excellent film is that the intention was to make a documentary that was a warning that unless what happened in Germany is seen and understood that 'night will fall' again and these type of large scale inhumanity will re-occur. Of course you can argue that does in fact happen.

This film shows footage not used in the original documentary and is as much about those who made the film as it is about everything else. Interestingly it talks about Hitchcock's input to help make the film convincing. The horrors of reality being so unreal that they might seem created for effect. You can also see in some of the dead faces some dead faces that will appear in Hitchcock's own fiction films after this one.

This film also contrasts the film which was suppressed with the film that did get finished and released--that version being supervised by Billy Wilder. The makers of this film obviously preferring Hitchcock's version.

And fans of both great directors will see their hand in how they shaped material shot by others. The camp footage was shot by army camera men without a director being there.

The graphic concentration camp footage is very graphic but focuses on the horrible expressions on the faces of the dead that is what makes it overwhelming and gripping.

Very little music is used, the voice over work is first rate as is haunting sound effects work. Part of what Night Will Fall does, by being a behind the scenes making of film is help to show just how real and unstaged these horrors of war were. It is hard to watch this film and come away thinking somehow all this was made up just for the sake of the Jews. In fact its impossible to believe that after you see this film.

Once more let me say this is not the so called Hitchcock film, though portions of that are shown within this film. That you have to seek out elsewhere and see for what it is, it has different things to show and say. This is almost an extended preview and background that helps viewing that film.

This has made me think of something that never occurred to me watching other documentaries of the holocaust. These tragic victims were disposed of without ceremony or dignity; each was an individual and when we think of the unthinkable events of this time the numbers of victims are too enormous to encompass, I mourn them all and yet as one person I cannot do enough to honour to six million. Could there be some way that we could have a worldwide movement to have individuals adopt one victim - if possible to know their birthday and date of death, to undertake to honour that one person in whatever way they might honour a friend or relative who had died. As one reviewer said this is about Jewish people but also intellectuals, homosexuals, gypsies - if six million people across the world were all honouring and remembering one of the victims, as time passes might we not do more to prevent night from falling again.