Rent Shoah (1985)

A very difficult must see - Shoah review by CW

Cinema Paradiso Synopsis gives an excellent summation of Shoah. I saw it years ago when it was released. If I remember correctly it was shown over either 2 or 3 nights at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Many years later I still remembered some of the shocking statements from the interviews. There are many interviews with survivors of the concentration camps and even from 2 men who actually survived a death camp. They had been shot but played dead. There are interviews and recordings of camp guards, commandants. people who lived and worked near the camps train workers and Nazi government officials. Some of the interviews and recordings were done in secret using hidden cameras and microphones. The director put himself in danger to capture the film and recordings. I wanted to see Shoah again and feel fortunate to have been able to get the 4 dvds from Cinema Paradiso so that I could also limit watching to no more than an hour at a time. It is excruciating to listen. It made me often want to weep. I had to walk away to process the information. The interviewers had to supress any emotion or anger when interviewing the guards etc. so that they would keep talking. There is no historic footage. This is such an important documentary I really think that it should be required watching to be shown in schools. To preserve the facts, the history of what happened to the victims and survivors, the director insists that they tell their stories even when they can hardly continue they are so overcome with the memory of the horror. It hurt to watch it but I am so glad I was able to see it again.