Night and Fog (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

…raised to many powers. Not in the distant Congo, but rather in the heart of Europe.I’ve recently been re-viewing many of the movies that I’ve seen in the movie theaters of my youth. I’ve again watched two of Alain Resnais’ classics: “Hiroshima Mon Amour,” and “Last Year at Marienbad.” I’ve posted my reviews of them on Amazon, so, as is its custom, Amazon suggested this third work of Resnais. Blame it on burnt out synapses, if you will, but I cannot recall if I saw this film previously… but I think I have. It is hard to forget the “bulldozer” clip, which made an impression half a century ago, though it could have been in another film. Since the movie is only 30 minutes long, it was more difficult for a movie theater to show it… too short for a “feature,” too long for a leader.Resnais brilliantly captured the horror of the Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz. The film is in black and white, shot ten years after the end of World War II. There is the stark contrast between the now peaceful pastoral countryside and the empty buildings, constructed for human disposal. One of the buildings is nominally a “hospital.” In this building horrendous experiments were conducted on the inmates. Simple “disposal” in a gas chamber would have been much more preferable to these tortures.The director balances views of the empty buildings of today with pictures taken during the war, of the Jews wearing the yellow “Star of David,” and being deported in cattle cars, which were far too crowded, resulting in both madness and death of some of the occupants. Resnais highlights how “nothing was wasted,” and there were rooms full of eyeglasses. In another scene, there is a room full of human hair, which is turned into cloth. Even the bodies themselves become fertilizer.“I am not responsible.” After the fall of the Third Reich, the refrain denying responsibility for the horror of the camps and the deaths of so many people, was seemingly universal. Resnais includes clips of the “capos,” usually common criminals who were the first echelon bosses in the camps, uttering the first sentence in this paragraph. Ditto for their better dressed bosses. Also included is a clip of the well-dressed wife of the commandant of the camp having tea.That awful image will always remain with me. So many skeletal bodies, some with gaping holes, piled high, and the implicit threat of the rapid spread of disease that meant that only a bulldozer was the suitable mechanism to be deployed for their burial in a mass grave.The charge of “racist” is in the common political discourse in the United States today. There is no question that this film provides a none-too-subtle two-by-four to the side of the head as to where very real racism can lead. 5-stars for another excellent movie by Alain Resnais.

cuts you right to the bone man will have you shaking with anger overcome with tears and blinded by rage all in only 32 minutes! i just watched this after hearing about it from my Mom and these images will be forever seared into my brain I was just overcome by sadness at the sheer brutality and horror of these images of the Holocaust my tears flowed freely and I'm not ashamed to admit that you will never experience a film about the Holocaust as powerful as this one books are one thing but images like this are quite another but it's not for children it's really disturbing but if you think you're brave enough then take a look at this film I think this should be required viewing for everyone I will never forget this film as long as I live and I hope future generations will join me in proclaiming Never Again

Brilliant film with persuasive and detailed arguments made by Resnais about his countrymen and women's involvement with the Nazis, the Holocaust, WWII, etc. etc., even the brutality shown to the women -- in particular -- who were seen as collaborators with the Nazis once France was liberated. Pulls no punches. This movie was made and shown before the "great" French New Wave auteurs and others took over French language film, yet none of them -- not one, not in one movie, EVER -- did they deal with the difficult topics that Resnais does in this valuable film. Why didn't the New Wave, who all grew up or were young adults in Vichy France, ever make a film about their own country during this time; their own experiences. Malle and later French directors surely took up the burden set down here by Resnais, but not Truffaut ("The 400 Blows" autobiographically should be set in Truffaut's Vichy-run childhood; we should be looking at some of Resnais' questions, but Truffaut moves up his own autobiographical film to the post-war, 1950s, "Leave it to Beaver" era); not Godard (the man who invented all of the devices overused to poor effect in countless modern music videos).Special mention should be made that this film had the great Chris Marker as its cinematographer. He manages to make archival photos necessary to Resnais' narrative (this is a documentary but it has a compelling, accusatory storytelling quality to it) come alive long before Ken Burns and his followers made really good documentaries. What Marker (renamed himself for the invention of the "Magic Marker" -- strange but true) does in this film he raises to new heights in his own films like La Jetee.

Remarkable footage, proving beyond the shadow of a doubt, the legitimacy and horror of the Holocaust. Unbelievable- that human beings could turn on each other this way! Unthinkable crimes took place.Could it happen again? Of course it could, unless we understand the lessons it offered.

Despite repeating a few myths (like there being art on human skin at Buchenwald) and not clearly distinguishing between Concentration and Death Camps, 60 years after its creation, this remains among the most powerful brief documentaries on Nazi crimes. This definitive version includes better subtitles that seem to preserve more of the original tone and spareness of the brilliant (French) script compared to earlier versions. Well worth watching despite a few shortcomings. Seeing the piles of human hair, shoes, and glasses collected by the Nazis from their victims is an especially chilling moment giving a sense of the scale of Nazi atrocities.

Stunning in it's unblinking view of concentration camp photos. (NOT a movie for children!) Even I, who has seen many similar films, found it hard to watch at times. The footage of the camps, less than 10 years from when they were active, is haunting. While only about 1/2 hour duration, the movie is a comprehensive visual description of what happened. A MUST SEE for any doubters of this tragedy.

A short retelling of the holocaust from a French perspective. A short 30 minute film depicting the result of widespread pan-European anti-Semitism, given the licence to unleash its hatred by popular nationalistic racism. The Nazis were a catalyst of centuries of pogroms against the anti-christs of Christian hypocrisy. The point made here is that no-one would accept responsibility for this Christian inspired fear and loathing. Not those giving the orders, based on popular desires and fears, nor those obeying the orders of their own free will. The excuses are pathetic and empty, the responsibility was universally pan-European Christianity, hiding beneath the mask of the fear of imaginary monsters. The title comes from the promise of Hitler to make the enemies of Germany disappear in the Nacht und Nebel, or in the fog of the night.

Vital evidence proving the holocaust, from the film footage of huge crowds of mostly jews at the rail depots, to the photos of dead jews as they open the train doors at the death camps, then even more the film of huge crowds in a 'holding area' at the camp, then most of all the photos of huge crowds of naked jews moments before entering the gas chamber. also horrific photos of decapitated heads in buckets, people stacked in pyres before and after burning, and the gas chambers themselves. vital, vital, vital, worth a million schindlers listzs, after this buy Lanzmanns SHOAH

Even though this is a very short film it is extremely powerful. it shows the horrors of the camps that are not often mentioned by Auschwitz survivors in their books.The film shows how women's hair was made into rolls of material, human skin into paper and bones boiled down for glue.It also shows the nail marks on the ceiling of the gas chambers where people had tried to claw there way out. The film is not a ghoulish look at the horrors of concentration camps, rather a very important documentary that all should see. On the back of the box it notes that after a spate of anti-semitism all French television channels cut their listings on the same evening and showed this film instead.The commentary is in French but the sub titles are in English and as I was unable to tear my eyes away from the screen anyway I didn't find this a problem at all.

Alain Renais' short but harrowing film of real footage from the camps. Not for the faint-hearted but holocaust deniers views welcome after seeing this.

Harrowing but everyone needs to know an Never Forget.

good features shame not longer

Fine

Very sad but well put together.

excellent value and quality

All good.

I watched this video as a follow-up to The Sorrow and the Pity. Resnais film is disturbing because it presents the building of the camps as a series of practical steps, fixing on the design of the buildings, the industries that were interested in using the labour, way the camps were laid out, how the people got there. The fact that they had orchestras and brothels. What they did with the by-products. What sort of medical experiments they performed.It's a beautifully crafted documentary, my only reservation is that watching these things is so upsetting. I live on my own and absorbing this material can depress me for days. How much should we expose ourselves to these 'horrors'?

This account of the Holocaust is a hard, unflinching account consisting of archival film shot just after the liberation of the death camps, as well as the larger concentration camps under Nazi control during World War 2. The film takes a bit of accommodation to the sub-titling, but once the adjustment is made by the viewer, this documentary represents a chilling record of the conditions in these camps. It would be a good viewing for older secondary school as well as college/university students who are studying this period of history, or the dynamics of human behaviour during war and/or serving under a totalitarian regime.

I will never forget this about the Nazi concentration camps. It is a very informative film, which much of the film was from the Nazi archives. The Nazi's did a lot of filming of what they did, thinking that they will show the new generation what they did to get Germany to be the most powerful nation in the world. Film is very gory. It talks about the lies the Germans told the Jews and the kinds of stuff they made out of their skin, hair ect. I will never forget this film ending.It's very pricey for a short movie that's about 30 min.

Documentaire sur la barbarie des Nazis et leurs collaborateurs. Film tragique et choquant, mais iqui nous montre voient la barbarie dont les êtres humains sont capables, en espérant une prise de conscience et que "Never Again."Hélas depuis cette genocide des juifs, handicappés, franc maçons, gitans , communistes, résistants, il y a eu encore au moins 30 autres genocides.

Very VERY short but definitely worth it. All non-fiction which is graphic as it is raw footage from the liberation at the camps. If you cannot handle images and videos of such things then this do use tray is not for you.