Description: Ten years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, filmmaker Alain Resnais documented the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz. One of the first cinematic reflections on the horrors of the Holocaust, Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) contrasts the stillness of the abandoned camps' quiet, empty buildings with haunting wartime footage. With Night and Fog, Resnais investigates the cyclical nature of man's violence toward man and presents the unsettling suggestion that such horrors could come again.
Amazon.com: Though only a short subject, this groundbreaking documentary remains one of the most influential and powerful explorations of the Holocaust ever made. Director Alain Resnais bluntly presents an indictment not only of the Nazis but of the world community, and the film is all the more remarkable for its harsh judgment considering the time in which it was made, less than a decade after the end of the war, when questions of responsibility were not yet being addressed. Juxtaposing archival clips from the concentration camps across Germany and Poland with the present-day denials of the camps' existence, the film seeks to once and for all expose the horrifying truth of the Final Solution, as well as to address the continuing anti-Semitism and bigotry that existed long after the war's end. An invaluable resource and testament to history, this film was a profound influence on all films to address issues of the Holocaust, from Judgment at Nuremberg and Shoah to Schindler's List. Night and Fog remains an essential and indispensable document of the 20th century. --Robert Lane
Not the best out there. The half hour run time was rather disappointing. They should however have an English voice over. It's kinda hard to watch piles of emaciated dead bodies being pushed into a mass grave while reading the subtitles. The music was really too upbeat in my opinion for what you're watching. The director seemed more like he was wanting to shock people instead of giving information on the Holocaust.
A Vivid and Horrible Description of Horror "Night and Fog"
A Vivid and Horrible Description of Horror
Amos Lassen
Filmed in 1955, "Night and Fog" ("Nuit et Brouillard") is the strongest film I have ever seen and it is only 31 minutes long. It shows the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps in Poland through footage that was shot by the Allies as it tells the story not only of the camps but of the horror of man's inhumanity. It is like watching a travelogue of Hell and nothing can prepare you for what you see here. So why watch it? It is important and it has to be see if for no other reason than to show what can happen when an "inhuman world view is fused to state-of-the art technology. What the Holocaust was it seems was no more (would we need any more?) simple mass-murder. It was a business decision which was calculated to rid the world of innocent people while making a profit off of them both in life and death. We see piles of human hair, emaciated skeletons being pushed around by bulldozers, lampshades made of human skin and what looks like living corpses walking around. These are visions you can never forget and they will never leave you. The shock value is compounded by opera and classical background music. Francois Truffaut, the outstanding French director, has called "Night and Fog" the greatest film of all time. It is Alain Renais, the director of the film, who shows us the Holocaust is all of its horror. It is devastating to watch so it is best to warn viewers to approach it with caution. It is an intense and beautiful film and it makes the stomach do flips--the footage is that brutal. The narrator, Michel Bouquet, speaks as the voice of history as he narrates the unspeakable acts which the camera has brilliantly captured. The film is not just for viewing but for reflection. Renais uses color to show how the camps looked in 1955 when the film was made and switches to black and white for the earlier periods. He juxtaposes the same camps during the 40's at the height of the War with the desolate places he found in 1955 when he filmed this documentary. Keep in mind that 1955 is not yet ten years after the war and this gives a surreal look to what we see. We watch in stunned disbelief even though we know that what we see really did happen. It is hard to imagine when these people went through. It is hard to make sense of what we see on the screen but we MUST see it. It brings out emotions that some are not aware that they have and evening its brevity it produces a wallop unlike any other film about the period has been able to do, Included on the Criterion DVD is a radio interview with Renais which has a lot to say about the French during the Holocaust. I have seen many films about the Holocaust which were excellent movies but they did not do in two hours what this movie manages to do in 31 minutes. It will positively shake the viewer and the emotional experience is wrenching. We need to face truth and Renais had the courage to do so. His film is ruthless and inescapable but also one of the most important films ever made. The world is still accountable for what happened to the millions who lost their lives because a maniacal person came to power. We should be able to call evil by its name after watching "Night and Fog" and me should learn together to bar evil from the world.
An Essential Film Anyone who has not seen actual footage of Auschwitz and victims of the Holocaust should see this film.
Chilling Even for someone like myself who has been exposed extensively to the images and facts of the Holocaust this is a chilling, moving and enlightening film. There is no attempt to put a polish on history or get the viewer to "chin up" and feel good that he will do his part to make sure "never again". It is an unvarnished, emotional emptying. I would be surprised to hear that anyone finishes this 30 minutes of film with much emotional energy left. It is simply mandatory to see this film.
A caveat . . . I've noted that a number of reviewers mention seeing Night and Fog in a high school class. I think one would have to be very careful about using this film in high school. This is not simply because it is very graphic. If it is the ONLY film about the Holocaust that students see, particularly in the context of a survey course in European history, where there's very little time for an in-depth look at anything, it could accomplish little. Watching the film, students see the horrors perpetrated by the SS, but they do not get any sense of how anti-Semitism pervaded every aspect of society, not only in Germany and Poland, but in other countries as well. Night and Fog gives students bad men to hate, but it does not ask then to consider who supported Hitler and made his rise to power possible. For this purpose, the film Au Revoir Les Enfants is very good, since it reveals the anti-Semitism that existed at all level of French society, from the cook's helper to the protagonist's mother. It can begin a great discussion about prejudice in its different manifestations. Films like Night and Fog shouldn't be employed for their shock value alone; one must reserve plenty of discussion time for the complex issues they raise. If the film is part of a comprehensive examination of the Holocaust, then it has a purpose to serve, but if it is not taught wisely and carefully, then for students it becomes a film about an evil that occurred a long time ago---and has nothing to do with them.
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