Rent The Grey Zone (2001)

Difficult and important - The Grey Zone review by CW

The Grey Zone is a companion piece to the Hungarian movie Son of Saul. Both were based on reports from survivors of Aushwitz including a few Sonderkommando and the Hungarian doctor forced to work with Mengele. Unlike most American movies, this is not neatly tied up with a happy ending. There is no archival footage but the scenes give an unflinching visualisation of the funnels into the changing rooms, the rooms that were then filled with gas and the industry of burning thousands of corpses. There are a few quiet moments of friendship and compassion amongst the slave labourers.

It is not easy to watch, but only by reading about the concentration camps and seeing movies and documentaries about them can we learn about the planned extermination of people - Jews, Hungarians, Poles, Russians, gipsies and others. . I recommend The Grey Zone, Son of Saul and Shoah.

Excellent, but Very Darkly Horrific WWII Drama Set in a Nazi Death Camp Based on a True Story - The Grey Zone review by PV

This film is a tough watch, so be prepared, I preferred it to Son of Saul which tells the same or a similar story - based on a book by Mengele's assistant doctor, a Hungarian Jew, though that account has been disputed by some Jewish historians.

Most witnesses were murdered, and that doctor a rare survivor - though he died of a heart attack in his mid fifties a decade after the war.

It can be a difficult watch at times. But all the better for that in educational terms, It is an accessible film and I'd recommend showing it to all schoolkids.

The on-screen information and the beginning and end of the film explain who people are and what happened - I researched some individuals online after that too.

Nothing else to say, Watch it. 4.5 stars rounded up.