Homo Sapiens 1900 (Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B
In another important, disturbing portrait of science and
ideology gone wrong, director Peter Cohen (whose incredible Architecture Of
Doom is reviewed elsewhere on this site) gives us Homo Sapiens 1900
(1999). This is about the quackery,
insanity and genocide that resulted in the false science of Eugenics, an
attempt at “race hygiene” that lead to all kinds of terrible experiments,
atrocities and help Fascism rise.
Through stills, silent film clips and some very well
researched history, dark secrets are uncovered and the path to ruin exposed for
all to see. Early on we see a clip from
The Black Stork (1916, Chapter 4), which is essentially a snuff film
where real life Doctor Harry Hazelton (as another doctor) kills an infant on
camera by refusing life-saving operations on the deformed infant on camera as
he would for untold others, go through with fatal surgeries, and denying the
comfort of even a blanket to this one unnamed child on camera.
Later, we see those who opposed Eugenics and how others
saw it as a golden opportunity and excuse to do what they pleased to millions
of defenseless people. The number of
people sterilized is insane and shockingly untold. Part of this is because there are too many these days who would
like to try a revised version of this quackery again. This runs 85 minutes and could have run for 185 minutes and still
been interesting. This is definitely
one part of the past we do not want to forget, so we do not repeat it.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is varied throughout, as one
would expect from a documentary, but it looks good. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is limited, has no surrounds and the
narrator’s voice has some slight break-up throughout not unlike what happened
with Tom Cruise on the Stanley Kubrick – A Life In Pictures DVD
documentaries. For all the sound
formats to date on DVD where this was a problem, this has only surfaced on
Dolby encoded tracks, for whatever reason, but it is only an occurrent problem
here. 18 stills and other information
on other related First Run Features titles (plus three trailers) are included,
but that is all. As has been the case
in previous Cohen works, it is unbelievable this material has been under wraps
for so long, but is another vital eye-opener that is required viewing for all.
- Nicholas Sheffo
