Auschwitz

"Everybody wants to make a movie and my stupid brother too", goes the famous quote by Orson Wells. True enough but the real problem arises, when the proverbial stupid brother imagines himself to be Orson Wells – which brings us to the issue of Uwe Boll.

It's easy to make light of Boll's films, dilettantism and talent (pardon the sarcasm) when talking about his video-game "adaptations" or hackneyed attempts to rip-off blockbusters like "Lord of the Rings". However, when tackling a serious issue like the Third Reich and the atrocities committed in the concentration camps, it becomes difficult to keep a review light and funny.

So, to what film could we compare "Auschwitz" to? "Schindler's List"? Sure, in Bolls wildest dreams and delusions. The TV-series "Holocaust"? That would be to compare melted Belgium chocolate to something of similar colour and consistency (but not taste). No, for a comparison we have to reach back to a rather obscure, almost forgotten sub-genre, namely the "Nazi-exploitation films" of the 1970's. We're not talking the sleazy highlight, "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS", we're talking the low points like "Beast in Heat" and "The Last Orgy of the SS". The major differences are that the exploitation films actually intended to be exploitive. Boll handles the material with utter seriousness – albeit, free of talent or passion. Plus, if you expect nudity and acts of depravity like in afore mentioned exploitation films, you'll be disappointed – there are none.

There is no law in Germany – for once, I say unfortunately – that could prevent a hack like Uwe Boll from taking on a serious issue like the holocaust or WW2. To sum it all up: it's simply a bad film with a serious topic – too serious as to speak of unwanted humour in a bad film.

And that's already too many words wasted on a bad film.

AUSCHWITZ is something atypical for a Uwe Boll movie. The German director notorious for making B-movies like BLOODRAYNE and IN THE NAME OF THE KING decided to try his hand at making a 'worthy' film a la SCHINDLER'S LIST. The end result is AUSCHWITZ, a look at what went on inside the infamous concentration camp.

Sadly, this film turns out to be just as poor - if not more so - than the rest of Boll's output. It's a short film with a documentary feel that aims to put across to the viewer what it feels like to be gassed in a chamber. It's suitably explicit and depressing, but Boll's direction is so poor and the acting so bad that it lacks the real power needed to convey the message properly. It doesn't help that with the running time coming up so short, Boll pads things out by having random German teenagers chatting about the Holocaust, which is indeed very random.

There is a lot of bad press surrounding Ewe Boll, but just to buck the trend I find most of his work, a rewarding experience. Okay he did not have the budget to recreate Auschwitz 1 or 2 but the mechanics of the holocaust are exactly right. Other reviews rightly pointed out there should have been many more in the gas chambers but having less, gave them a grave individuality. The most disturbing aspect though, is interviews with German teenagers (of today), Their lack of knowledge and understanding (of what happened) is so stupid, it actually borders on the supernatural. Balanced out, right at the end, by one bright boy who knew more than all the rest put together. One downside, is I wish it had been a lot longer and with less interviews.

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.

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