299. Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog) (1955)
Directed By Alain Resnais
Synopsis
Documentary on the structure and horrors of Nazi concentration camps.
Review
This film lasts for a mere half-hour, but it is also one of the more intense half-hours on this list up until now. We have all seen many of the shocking images that this film shows again and again, but the assault on the senses here is relentless, each image more shocking than the next.
If ever a film had a good excuse for shock value it is this film. The whole point of it is to shock the viewer into feeling a revulsion for the attitudes of the Nazi regime and that is nothing but a good thing.
The film is also supremely effective in giving the viewer quite grim food for thought, how can man do this to man? How could so many people accept and collaborate with these horrors? The questions raised about human nature are the really important ones here and the ones to keep in mind to keep it from happening again. Resnais is great in making sharp contrasts between the colour images of the camps in 1955 and the black and white images of death an despair from when the camps were active. Sometimes propaganda is a good thing.
Final Grade
10/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The film was directed by Alain Resnais and written by Jean Cayrol, who had published a collection of poems, Poèmes de la nuit et brouillard (1945), which evoked his experience as a survivor of Mauthausen.
While Night and Fog states that the Nazis made soap from the corpses, this claim is today seen as false.
The whole thing is on youtube, here's part 2 (right after the opening credits):
Synopsis
Documentary on the structure and horrors of Nazi concentration camps.
Review
This film lasts for a mere half-hour, but it is also one of the more intense half-hours on this list up until now. We have all seen many of the shocking images that this film shows again and again, but the assault on the senses here is relentless, each image more shocking than the next.
If ever a film had a good excuse for shock value it is this film. The whole point of it is to shock the viewer into feeling a revulsion for the attitudes of the Nazi regime and that is nothing but a good thing.
The film is also supremely effective in giving the viewer quite grim food for thought, how can man do this to man? How could so many people accept and collaborate with these horrors? The questions raised about human nature are the really important ones here and the ones to keep in mind to keep it from happening again. Resnais is great in making sharp contrasts between the colour images of the camps in 1955 and the black and white images of death an despair from when the camps were active. Sometimes propaganda is a good thing.
Final Grade
10/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The film was directed by Alain Resnais and written by Jean Cayrol, who had published a collection of poems, Poèmes de la nuit et brouillard (1945), which evoked his experience as a survivor of Mauthausen.
While Night and Fog states that the Nazis made soap from the corpses, this claim is today seen as false.
The whole thing is on youtube, here's part 2 (right after the opening credits):
posted by Francisco Silva @ 12:33 AM
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