Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust is a documentary film which premiered in 2004.

 

This film wants to explain how Hollywood portrayed events which happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the holocaust which happened during World War II.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Directed by Daniel Anker

** Narrated by Gene Hackman

** Historical advisors: Michael Berenbaum, Annette Insdorf, Neal Gabler, and Thane Rosenbaum

** Shown in theatres 2007

** Released on DVD in 2009

** Run time: 92 minutes

 

There are clips from more than 20 movies or mini-series about events which happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the holocaust which happened during World War Two. I will not mention all titles here, because the complete list is too long.

 

Many people are interviewed in the film. Most of them are connected with the movie industry, but there are also some historians.

 

Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):

 

** Norma Barzman, screenwriter

** Michael Berenbaum, historian

** Robert Berger, producer

** Robert Clary, actor and holocaust survivor

** Dan Curtis, director

** Stanley Frazen, film editor

** Neal Gabler, historian

** Annette Insdorf, film historian

** Sidney Lumet, director

** Branko Lustig, film producer and holocaust survivor

** Abby Mann, screenwriter

** Gene Reynolds, actor and director

** Sharon Rivo, film historian

** Thane Rosenbaum, writer

** Vincent Sherman (1906-2006) (he was 96 years old when he was interviewed), director

** Steven Spielberg, producer

** Martin Starger, producer

** Rod Steiger, actor

** George Stevens, Jr., producer

** Martin Wald, screenwriter

** Fritz Weaver, actor

 

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 75 per cent, which corresponds to 3.8 stars on Amazon.

 

On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 88 per cent, which corresponds to 4.4 stars on Amazon.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 23 ratings of this product, 20 with reviews.

 

The average rating is 4.6 stars which corresponds to a rating of 92 percent.

 

I understand the numerous positive reviews and I agree with many of them. This film is good, but not great.

 

What is wrong?

 

There is one significant flaw:

 

This flaw concerns the language that is spoken in the movies which are under discussion here. With few exceptions, the language spoken is English.

 

We are talking about movies about events which happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the holocaust which happened during World War II, but with few exceptions all actors speak English! No matter which nationality their character has. This is hardly realistic.

 

Movie-makers often go to great lengths to make their movies realistic.

 

(1) They try to find good actors.

(2) They try to find good locations.

(3) They try to show and to use costumes and technology from the period, in this case the 1930s and the 1940s.

 

But what about the language that is spoken?

 

It is English!

 

Language is an important part of the whole package; an important aspect of a movie, but this issue is completely ignored by most directors.

 

Why?

 

Because they are afraid of using subtitles. This significant flaw is never discussed here. It is ignored by the narrator and by every person who is interviewed.

 

I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw, which cannot be ignored.

 

I have to remove one star because of this flaw. This is why I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

REFERENCES

 

Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939

by Thomas Doherty

(2015)

 

Hollywood and the Holocaust

by Henry Gonshak

(2015)

 

The Collaboration:

Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler

by Ben Urwald

(2015)

 

*****