the sheer horrific audacity of the nazi plan to exterminate the jews of europe is almost incomprehensible .
people may make documentaries about it for another hundred years and still not understand the organized , methodical hatred .
five concentration camp survivors from the last days of world war
ii tell their stories in the last days , the first documentary from steven spielberg 's survivors of the shoah visual history foundation .
the five interviewees are linked by their hungarian ancestry .
as the introduction explains , even as germany started to lose the war , the nazis stepped up their extermination of the jews in europe .
in 1944 , hungary had the last big population of jews within germany 's reach , and they became the last target of hitler 's " final solution .
"
each of the five tells his or her story .
their stories are intercut chronologically , starting from normal life in pre - war hungary .
they recall the nazi invasion of hungary , being sent to " work " camps and their realization that they were actually in death camps .
they recall their horrible , precarious lives in auschwitz and buchenwald ; the deaths of their family and friends ; their loss of hope .
each recalls his or her unfathomable , eventual liberation .
and finally , the last days shows their cathartic , pained , modern - day return to their old homes and the camps .
needless to say , their stories are horrifying , amazing , and emotionally draining .
by themselves , the stories would be forceful testaments , but by cutting them in parallel , their impact is multiplied by five .
the last days is a talking - heads style documentary -- it 's mostly pictures of people telling their stories , intercut with period photographs and newsreel footage .
in this kind of movie it 's almost impossible to get archival pictures from the same time and place being discussed on - screen , but director james moll made a better effort than most at finding specific , or at least relevant , images to go with his subjects ' narration .
the liner notes ( one of the many nice features of this dvd ) indicate that there is some never - before - seen historical footage in the last days .
it 's not clear which scene it is .
it could be one of two that i had n't seen before ,
both powerful .
one is rare color footage , shot by an american , of piles of victims in cattle cars .
there is something jarring , something unsettling about seeing the pictures in color , when so much of the footage from world war ii is in black and white .
another segment shows walking skeletons ; survivors who are so starved that they hardly look human anymore .
there has been a glut of holocaust movies and i was skeptical that a new documentary would have anything new to say .
but by focusing on hungarian jews during the last days of the war , moll told a specific part of the story in a new way , in greater detail .
and i 'm glad he did because his careful filmmaking stands up well
compared to other movies on the same subject .
the transfer to dvd is rich and beautiful .
x - mozilla - status :
0009f words for a holocaust documentary , but some of the interviews take place in europe in late spring , when skies are blue and trees are green .
also , the movie was shot on 35 mm film ( and not video ! ) , so the richness and detail are impeccable .
the dvd 's features are plentiful and well - chosen .
there is a theatrical trailer for the movie , which is a great introduction to the subject matter .
there are about fifty still photos , both from the production crew and from the private collections of the survivors .
also , the disc has two complete versions of the movie ( widescreen and full screen ) , both on the same side .
one of the more interesting dvd features is an outtake segment for each of the survivors ( plus one for the crew ) .
you 'd think outtakes would be inappropriate in a holocaust documentary , but they 're not bloopers .
instead , they are solid , moving segments that were probably cut from the film only for length .
one of them continues a confrontation that was only touched on lightly in the film .
renee firestone ( one of the five ) spoke on camera with dr .
hans m ?
nch , a german doctor who ran the medical clinic at auschwitz .
firestone was aggressive , questioning the doctor about what his children thought .
the doctor was evasive and clearly uncomfortable .
another of the outtakes showed bill basch saying a prayer for his dead friends at auschwitz .
he ends his prayer by saying " . . .
forgive me for surviving .
"
it 's ambitious to shoot a documentary on 35 mm film .
it 's ambitious to make it on a subject that has saturated cable , television , and movies .
it 's ambitious to make it 54 years after the events it covers .
but the last days handles all these potential obstacles very well
.
it 's only fitting that the dvd , with its wealth of interesting and relevant features , would also be ambitious and successful .
Output: P