Issue 188
News/Film Idea/Review: Some notes on Holocaust Films.
In my last entry, on the best books of the many I read in 2010, I mentioned that I had put 25 books in the shortlist. Two of the books that didn't make it onto my list were Holocaust memoirs. Specifically, those memoirs were two classics of the genre: Primo Levi's If This Is A Man, and Elie Wiesel's Night. I have to admit that there's a reason I didn't include them in my list beyond the fact that I found Bruce Campbell talking about the making of The Evil Dead more enjoyable than their harrowing experiences im Lager. The fact is that, I can't help but think that while they are basically true and don't feel the need to nit-pick like some people do, the medium of the memoir has advantages and disadvantages, and one disadvantage is particularly crucial: they are ultimately one-sided. The way I see it, if books and films are to be used to show people the horrors of the Holocaust, we should be forced to see ourselves not only in the shoes of those who got killed, but also the shoes of those who did the killing. To go further into this, I will examine what is probably the most famous film about the Holocaust, Schindler's List. In the film, the villain Amon Goeth is portrayed as being utterly, outrageously cruel. One would be tempted to call out Spielberg for portraying him as too unrealistic if one didn't know that Spielberg actually toned down his evil for film. The problem I have with it is that, unfortunately, Goeth wasn't exactly representative of Concentration Camp workers. When off-duty, many of them would seem pretty normal people, and not necessarily the type of people who would routinely kill people for a day. This is what Hannah Arendt meant by "The Banality of Evil." This is a thought that should frighten you, because it means your best friends or even you could very well be capable of committing genocide without emotion. It is also essential for understanding why the Holocaust happened in the first place, but, surprisingly, very few of the films that take place in the camps try to deal with that idea. In essence, I feel that not including that theme in a film (or other art form) about the Holocaust is ultimately irresponsible, even when a big name like Spielberg does it. Even when Roman Polanski, a filmmaker known for being gloomy and pessimistic (at least when you look at his film career, as opposed to his personal life), made a film about it, he seemed to avoid this issue like Spielberg did. Of course, considering he lived through it all and lost most of his family, it sort of makes sense he would focus solely on the victims. To remedy this, I have come up with three possible ideas for a Holocaust film if I ever make it to Hollywood, in order of likelihood that they will be made (most likely last.)
*Death Dealer, based on the memoirs of Rudolf Hoess, an actual Commandant of Auschwitz. Considering that a lot of the criticism of Boy in the Striped Pyjamas seemed to focus on making a Nazi sympathetic, this is probably the least likely one to be made.
*Eyewitness Auschwitz, based on Filip Mueller's autobiography. It is about a Jewish inmate who survived the camp for three years because of his skill in working the crematoria, thus blurring the line between victims and villains. Definitely more moral ambiguity, but I doubt that a film like this would be made.
*The Wave. This is the one I think is most likely to be made, because, simply put, it's already been made several times, most notably as a Television special in 1981, and a German film in 2008. What do I think I can add to the story? Before I tell you that, I should tell you a little about Miltonian criticism. In his book, Surprised by Sin, Stanley Fish attempted to explain the sympathetic portrayal of Satan by saying that by making Satan seem likable, Milton helps simulate the Fall of Man on the reader. In very much the same vein, I hope to extend the power of the Wave to the level of the audience by using cinematic techniques that mirror those used by Leni Riefenstahl in her amazingly made propaganda piece Triumph of the Will. That film managed to boost allegiance to the Nazi party whenever it was played, and even allegedly scared a film critic into joining the Nazi Party. If we are led to be in as much awe of the movement as the students are, the big reveal will be even more shocking.
In my last entry, on the best books of the many I read in 2010, I mentioned that I had put 25 books in the shortlist. Two of the books that didn't make it onto my list were Holocaust memoirs. Specifically, those memoirs were two classics of the genre: Primo Levi's If This Is A Man, and Elie Wiesel's Night. I have to admit that there's a reason I didn't include them in my list beyond the fact that I found Bruce Campbell talking about the making of The Evil Dead more enjoyable than their harrowing experiences im Lager. The fact is that, I can't help but think that while they are basically true and don't feel the need to nit-pick like some people do, the medium of the memoir has advantages and disadvantages, and one disadvantage is particularly crucial: they are ultimately one-sided. The way I see it, if books and films are to be used to show people the horrors of the Holocaust, we should be forced to see ourselves not only in the shoes of those who got killed, but also the shoes of those who did the killing. To go further into this, I will examine what is probably the most famous film about the Holocaust, Schindler's List. In the film, the villain Amon Goeth is portrayed as being utterly, outrageously cruel. One would be tempted to call out Spielberg for portraying him as too unrealistic if one didn't know that Spielberg actually toned down his evil for film. The problem I have with it is that, unfortunately, Goeth wasn't exactly representative of Concentration Camp workers. When off-duty, many of them would seem pretty normal people, and not necessarily the type of people who would routinely kill people for a day. This is what Hannah Arendt meant by "The Banality of Evil." This is a thought that should frighten you, because it means your best friends or even you could very well be capable of committing genocide without emotion. It is also essential for understanding why the Holocaust happened in the first place, but, surprisingly, very few of the films that take place in the camps try to deal with that idea. In essence, I feel that not including that theme in a film (or other art form) about the Holocaust is ultimately irresponsible, even when a big name like Spielberg does it. Even when Roman Polanski, a filmmaker known for being gloomy and pessimistic (at least when you look at his film career, as opposed to his personal life), made a film about it, he seemed to avoid this issue like Spielberg did. Of course, considering he lived through it all and lost most of his family, it sort of makes sense he would focus solely on the victims. To remedy this, I have come up with three possible ideas for a Holocaust film if I ever make it to Hollywood, in order of likelihood that they will be made (most likely last.)
*Death Dealer, based on the memoirs of Rudolf Hoess, an actual Commandant of Auschwitz. Considering that a lot of the criticism of Boy in the Striped Pyjamas seemed to focus on making a Nazi sympathetic, this is probably the least likely one to be made.
*Eyewitness Auschwitz, based on Filip Mueller's autobiography. It is about a Jewish inmate who survived the camp for three years because of his skill in working the crematoria, thus blurring the line between victims and villains. Definitely more moral ambiguity, but I doubt that a film like this would be made.
*The Wave. This is the one I think is most likely to be made, because, simply put, it's already been made several times, most notably as a Television special in 1981, and a German film in 2008. What do I think I can add to the story? Before I tell you that, I should tell you a little about Miltonian criticism. In his book, Surprised by Sin, Stanley Fish attempted to explain the sympathetic portrayal of Satan by saying that by making Satan seem likable, Milton helps simulate the Fall of Man on the reader. In very much the same vein, I hope to extend the power of the Wave to the level of the audience by using cinematic techniques that mirror those used by Leni Riefenstahl in her amazingly made propaganda piece Triumph of the Will. That film managed to boost allegiance to the Nazi party whenever it was played, and even allegedly scared a film critic into joining the Nazi Party. If we are led to be in as much awe of the movement as the students are, the big reveal will be even more shocking.
Labels: Books, Film, The Holocaust
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