"We survey these ruins with a heartfelt gaze, certain the old monster lies crushed beneath the rubble. We pretend to regain hope as the image recedes, as though we've been cured of that plague.
I just re-watched this for the first time since it was shown as a film strip to my 6th grade class. At the time I was fixated on the images but this time I could also absorb the haunting words of Jean Cayrol, which made it so much more devastating.
I seldom review movies online, especially on sites like this where there are already a huge number of reviews. However, having just finished watching this film, I feel the need to record some thoughts.
This one is hard to write something about, but I'm convinced that I should give a try at least. I'll begin with saying that anyone (from an appropriate age, let's say...
A very artistic and historical monument for documentary filmmaking this is also a homage to those who lost(their life, hope etc.) in the concentration camps...
Alain Resnais was one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the French new wave. But before making two essential classics for the movement, Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and Last Year at Marienbad (1961), he made a few documentaries.
To be sure, this movie is well made and informative. It certainly does its job in forcing viewers to feel moved by the Holocaust.
Of all the films made about the Holocaust, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog is quite possibly the most shattering cinematic experience. The documentary is only 33 minutes in length but such is the scope of the journey he takes us on that there are no appropriate words to describe it.
Before reviewing a film, the least I can do is to watch it, but how can I properly review something my eyes barely watched? How can I truly express emotions when my eyes kept staring away from the screen?