The Last Days

The Last Days (1998)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Haunting, depressing and hard to watch documentary from director James Moll has five Hungarian Jews talking about their time before, during and after being placed in concentration camps at the end of WWII as Hitler was in the last days of murdering as many people as he could. THE LAST DAYS picked up the Best Documentary Oscar and there's no question that it's a very powerful movie, perfectly put together to show the horrors of these camps. Through the interviews and archival footage, most people will probably want to avoid this film simply because of how graphic the photos are and there's no question that it's incredibly depressing. Yes, there's a bit a hope thrown in for the inspiration to survive but this really doesn't take away the haunting images that we're shown. There are several times throughout the film that the five people break down crying while telling their stories and it really makes you wonder what it would be like having to go through life with these graphic images constantly in your head. Seeing people shot, burned to death, melt down into skeletons and worse is just something that no one should have to go through life witnessing and then having to live with. Another interesting segment deals with the eventual rescue by the American troops. We get to see some interviews with those troops and hearing their stories of being shocked were also very heartbreaking. I thought director Moll did a terrific job at taking all the stories and editing them together just as if the story was being told by one person. THE LAST DAYS isn't an easy film to watch as some of the images are just horrible but for history buffs it's a must see.

Heartbreaking and haunting listening to these survivors of the Holocaust recount the horrors they witnessed. The film itself felt sincere, real people telling real stories. It was nice to have it end on good notes, as the survivors went on to live their lives.

My life changed after my visit to Auschwitz . I had been to Dachau in college, but it didn't affect me the way Auschwitz/ Birkenau had. Perhaps because most of it had been leveled or it could have been the 2 American soldiers who kept trying to video tape me (sigh). For anyone who has any interest in the Holocaust, a trip to Auschwitz with the guided tour is essential.

The movie did an excellent job of weaving together five survivors stories. On the DVD that we got from Netflix, the music was uncomfortably loud to the point of not being able to hear what the survivors were saying. Hopefully, this is just a bum copy and in other screenings the music does not overpower the talking.

I applaud the folks who made this film and especially the survivors who were able to share such deep emotion even in front of a film crew.

Thank you.

If you like history you must watch this. I know it's hard to watch but we want to know what happened in the past.

I had the opportunity to see "The Last Days" on HBO one night and I will never be the same again. My Family is German, in fact my grandparents were born in Germany, and I have always heard the horrible stories of the concentration camps and How my family was so ashamed to be German. I have seen many pictures and movies concerning the holocaust but nothing could have prepared me for the images shown in this movie. The videos taken of the concentration camp prisoners was so unbelievable. When the first survivor began talking I felt tears begin to rush down my face. The way the Nazi's treated these people was so unbelievable and horrible. Towards the end of the film we see the deceased prisoners of the camps being thrown into large pits of fire to destroy their bodies. At this point in the movie I literally began to gag from the horror of how these people was treated. This movie is life changing- I don't think I will ever be able to read a book about World War II or the holocaust with out feeling my own heartbreak. In my opinion the most touching moment is when we hear the story of how a woman keeps the diamonds her mother gave her secret from the Nazis, and how she still has them and what she has done with them. Another moment that broke my heart is the story of a woman who wears a bathing suit that her father gave her under her clothes to the concentration camp and how she was scared to take it off because she feared she would forget all the good times that she had had before the war. I hope everyone sees this movie so they can understand what hate does, and so that nothing like this ever happens again.