Auschwitz

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

You get actually two movies here. The one is a movie about the Ausschwitz camp (which as many have stated does not look exactly like the original camp -> he didn't have the money to built it) and the other one is interviews with kids about the holocaust and the Hitler in general. The latter is pretty intriguing and would have made for an interesting view if it had stayed alone.

But I had to vote and review both parts and the other one just isn't good enough. Boll tries to be as real as possible (he has stated that this is not Schindlers List, but a real depiction of what went on back then, though Budget restrictions did not really allow him to be faithful to what he wanted to accomplish), but never achieves his goal fully. Due to the budget restrictions the tone is gritty, which helps the documentary style, but does not add acting value, which on the other hand brings the movie down again. Points for trying ... or maybe not ... up to you to decide ...

This is the worst film ever made about WW2 and the Holocaust. It's probably been shot at a farmhouse somewhere, no resemblance to Auschwitz whatsoever. The scenes are ridiculous, acting is dreadful. They didn't even bother with hiring enough extras to fill up a train cart and the gas chamber. It all looks like a field trip that ended up a bit badly.

Uwe Boll apparently wanted to raise awareness about the Holocaust with the younger generations in Germany, but has blundered monstrously. This is a joke, and instead of raising awareness it raises your lunch. In my case, it was just some yogurt, but bad enough nevertheless.

As noble as Uwe Boll's intentions might be, please use some quality cinema on the topic and numerous "genuine" documentaries. There's a lot of those about, high-quality and accurate ones, so just chuck this one out immediately. In case you were stupid enough to cough up some cash for this joke. I was, for one.

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.

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.