Verdict on Auschwitz – The Frankfurt Auschwitz
Trial 1963 – 1965
(Documentary/DEFA/First Run)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C- Films: B+
The Rolf
Bickel/Dietrich Wagner documentary Verdict
on Auschwitz – The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial 1963 – 1965 is a detailed,
powerful, thorough look at the somewhat late trials of Hitler SS members and
pulls no punches about their genocide and crime against humanity in ways that
do not assume most people know the details.
Using archival footage, documents and stills, one of the strongest
pieces about how Auschwitz was and why it was one of the worst camps of all.
The three
parts run about three hours, going through all kinds of reconstruction of the
facts and even offering models of how certain death cambers worked. We have seen many pieces on the Holocaust and
on Auschwitz in particular, but the painstaking long-way journey this one takes
makes it one of the most vital, which is not easy since the nightmare stories
of ugly inhumanity seem endless. It is
so good, it is one of the must see programs, but know the content can be
harrowing and not for the faint of heart.
The 1.33
X 1 image on all three segments is a little softer than we would like for film
footage and is likely older film-to-PAL masters now made into NTSC MPEG-2 for
DVD. Fortunately, the original film
sources are in good shape. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound is barley stereo and suggests second-generation original like
the image, but the combination is just far too compelling not to watch. The only extra is text on the filmmakers in
bio/filmography form.
- Nicholas Sheffo
