Meanwhile, old film footage vividly depicts the way the Jewish citizens of towns like Sziget lived before the war. Wiesel recalls his childhood and the closeness he felt to his parents and younger sister. In Auschwitz, a tour around the grim remains of the concentration camp is accompanied by Wiesel's painful recollection of his experiences there. He speaks of the last time he saw his mother and sister, and of how his father was beaten to death as he begged for water. Elek's understated but deeply touching film opens with footage of the inauguration of the Holocaust Memorial Museum and ends with the 1986 presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Wiesel by the King of Norway in Oslo.
Music is used sparingly as a gentle counterpoint to the images.
Docu's most powerful element is Wiesel's frank commentary as he literally speaks about the unspeakable. This is another important addition to the list of films about the horror of the Holocaust.