Propaganda??? Think about it
who was calling the shots in Poland in 1947? And which country of all WW2 principals was portrayed in the most positive light in this film? The fact is that this script had to be approved by the Russians and had it been critical of them in any way it would have never seen the light of the projector. Pretty convenient, considering the hundreds of thousands of Polish women that were raped by the Red Army or the way Stalin let Germany level Warsaw!
Propaganda aside, this is a remarkable and historic film! First off it was released just 2 years after the end of the war. Secondly it was the first film in the world to address the atrocities of the Holocaust head on! Yes 1946's "The Stranger" did give it a nod but this film went full frontal atrocity! Thirdly, this was the first film to be shot within Auschwitz/Birkenau. Finally the film was directed by Wanada Jakubowska who was in fact interned at A/B and the script depicts her experiences. Suffice to say this is a very genuine film almost to the point of being a docu-drama.
The one big problem with this classic is that totally suffers from 1947 Western European technology especially the camera and film which coupled with the Neo-realistic direction makes the shots overly dark and difficult to perceive. Additionally I found the story arc a little hard to follow at times (that may have been a cultural thing?).
In the end this 1947 Polish film started Cinema's discussion about A/B the icon of the holocaust and that is a fact that does not get it's proper!
8/10 with a big bonus for historical significance
Propaganda aside, this is a remarkable and historic film! First off it was released just 2 years after the end of the war. Secondly it was the first film in the world to address the atrocities of the Holocaust head on! Yes 1946's "The Stranger" did give it a nod but this film went full frontal atrocity! Thirdly, this was the first film to be shot within Auschwitz/Birkenau. Finally the film was directed by Wanada Jakubowska who was in fact interned at A/B and the script depicts her experiences. Suffice to say this is a very genuine film almost to the point of being a docu-drama.
The one big problem with this classic is that totally suffers from 1947 Western European technology especially the camera and film which coupled with the Neo-realistic direction makes the shots overly dark and difficult to perceive. Additionally I found the story arc a little hard to follow at times (that may have been a cultural thing?).
In the end this 1947 Polish film started Cinema's discussion about A/B the icon of the holocaust and that is a fact that does not get it's proper!
8/10 with a big bonus for historical significance