Nazi propaganda materials were produced on a large scale during the Second World War, archival materials have appeared again and again in historical and informative documentaries. But rarely were they used to force the spectator to reconsider the connection between the moving image and memory. Yael Hersonski discovered previously unknown film footages, shot by German cameramen in 1942, in the Warsaw Ghetto. On the celluloid film tapes we can see scenes recorded with different techniques: set-pieces masquerading as real life, regular street life, which in fact was directed, and shot in several takes. We can judge ourselves their content of truth, on the basis of diary-notes by the ghetto inhabitants, interviews recorded with survivors and one of the German cameramen while viewing the footages. The work constantly challenges the audience to review its authenticity, thereby achieving the most of what film is capable of. Witnessing the vulnerability of humanity in this way and seeing the cruelty with which a camera can be used make this film a deeply unsettling experience.
2010 | Israel & Germany | 90 min | Yael Hersonski | www

[<<]

[<]

[>]