Les derniers jours

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.

There have been a number of Holocaust films, dramatic and documentary, and all have some measure of success in conveying the immense horror of Nazi psychosis. This film is one of the best I've seen. It sticks to personal stories and that makes the difference. Dry written narration removes the vastness of the evil perpetrated.

It took decades for the real horror of the Nazi extermination to be adequately shown to the public. We should use this film as an example of the mindset that drives current holocausts being perpetrated right now or being openly planned by international leaders. It doesn't matter who is being persecuted, the open hated and psychosis of the perpetrators is on display here, you can easily see the same aberrant thought processes in action right now in Africa and the Middle East.

If only the world could show the courage that was clearly lacking in the 1930's.

As sad and shocking as these documentaries are, they must be made and watched. I am grateful these stories were recorded since we have less and less survivors left here with us. Never forget. Never let it happen again.

Update: Looking at the large number of thumbs down on previous positive comments is bizzare.

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.