Response to “A Film Unfinished”
The movie “A Film Unfinished,” raises many questions about intentions. Why would the Germans care so much about making life in the Warsaw ghetto look good to the outside world when in fact the 1.5 million Jewish people there were living in terrible conditions. The raw footage that was never meant to be seen by the outside world would shock and disgust all that viewed it. Another question raised by this is why did the Germans not get rid of the film that showed truly how miserable life in the ghetto was for the Jews. Did they think that it would never be seen by outside eyes? This movie was intended to show that life in the ghetto was not that bad for the Jews and that even though they were being held against their will they could lead lives of luxury within the ghetto. In fact the film did show scenes of a good life in the ghetto. But for every scene showing an actor living it up there was real video of people starving, dying on the streets, and leading lives in unsanitary conditions. The Jewish people in the ghetto become so accustomed to death in the ghetto that the raw footage in the film shows them walking past dead on the street without paying any notice, they were just used to it. Did the camera men shooting this film really not realize what the Germans were doing here and that this was truly a sign of things to come? The Jewish people starving and overall filth of the ghetto had to make a impact on the camera men. When people are being carted out of the ghetto dead and being buried by their fellows Jews in the masses the camera men had to realize that something was wrong. That this was just a step in the Germans master plan to eliminate the Jewish people. Many questions can be asked by this film and most of them cannot be answered now. If they camera men knew what was happening why didn’t they get it out to the world? Was it that they felt they would endanger themselves or that the world would not believe? The film shows all the truth anyone would need and more. Watching “A Film Unfinished,” makes one feel and question many things, and at this point many questions must remain unanswered.
6 comments:
In 1961 a social psychologist Stanley Milgram did a test to see the effects of authority on a man who was "shocked" over and over by a man unknowingly participating in an experiment of another man who was in this case the authority figure. This and this era in history both go to show that a lot of the time the majority of people think that whatever they do is okay as long as authority says so. Especially if they thought their butts were on the line if they said otherwise. It takes a strong person to stand up to something like that. Good points.
they did not get rid of the film they just were not able to edit it before the war was over, but this film does make you think alot about how people could do this to other people.
I could not agree more. I did not see at all how those images could be spun to make viewers think it was a good situation. It is a shame that it took so long for this footage to come out for sure.
The film made me ask a lot of the same questions. I can't even imagine getting use to seeing death. Images of dead people on the streets would haunt me for the rest of my life. I also wondered how the camera men were able to fulfill their duty without feeling horrible about themselves or about the job they were doing. My heart definitely goes out to the poor people who had to suffer and endure all of that pain.
I think that even if the camera men knew what was really going on that they may not have done anything anyway. They were probably scared for their lives.
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