A Film Unfinished
2010
Directed by Yael Hersonski

~ review by Craig Detweiler

I recently had the privilege of hosting a screening of the quietly powerful documentary, A Film Unfinished. Four long forgotten film reels were discovered featuring footage shot by the Nazis circa 1942. Labeled “Das Ghetto,” the footage corrects long held assumptions about life in the Warsaw Ghetto. Much of what historians long considered accurate depictions of the era was actually staged for nefarious reasons. In marked contrast to the overheated Nazi propaganda machine, A Film Unfinished demonstrates such faith in the audience. It counters the manipulative ways of the Nazis with remarkable restraint, making it a serious contender for an Academy Award.

Israeli filmmaker Yael Hersonski allows the footage to speak for itself. Her documentary unfolds like a detective story, with clues to the origins and purpose of the recovered reels doled out slowly. Viewers may initially wonder what is the big deal? The scenes seem so mundane. Shopping at a market. Dining in a restaurant. Preparing for a dance party. Only as we see multiple takes of the same scenes do we start to wonder what exactly is being staged.

The Nazis intended to juxtapose sad scenes of everyday Jewish life on the streets—beggars, hungry children, corpses—with staged scenes of affluence. They forced ghetto dwellers to dress up, to pack a theater, to laugh on cue. Jewish ‘actors’ were told to walk past two boys gazing longingly at food hanging from a shop window. They wanted multiple shots of busy people strolling past those with a hand out in need. The implications were intended to be clear—life in the Warsaw ghetto was much happier and healthier than reported. “See—we have cinematic proof.” And more insidiously—“Look at the Jews disregard the welfare of their own people. Such callow indifference!” And yet, it was the Nazis creating such horrific conditions and then forcing residents to look more affluent and uninvolved.

Hersonski assembles a fascinating array of commentators to unpack the footage. We hear excerpts from the diary of Adam Cherniakov, head of the Jewish Council and Heinz Auerswald, Warsaw ghetto commissioner, as they detail the Nazi’s movements. Hersonki recreates the hazy recollections of Nazi cameraman, Willy Wist. Ace editor Joelle Alexis stops the frames where Wist and his crew are caught on screen, complicit in their own drama.

Most compelling are five Warsaw survivors, watching the found footage with a mixture of fear and revulsion. They don’t want to witness atrocities caught on camera, and yet they wonder if they will recognize friends or even their younger selves onscreen. The Nazis never finished their film, because once the Warsaw ghetto was leveled in 1943 they could no longer show this footage. The deceit would have been too obvious, even for the Nazis.

Hersonski allows viewers to fill in the blanks, to consider how easily movies can be manipulated. She allows the Nazis cinematic choices to convict them. As ghetto residents are filmed disrobing and entering private ritual baths, we move from detached observers to equally outraged witnesses. A Film Unfinished forces us to reflect on the past, to remember what we’re tempted to forget, to wonder anew about the evil humanity can do.

The screening at Pepperdine was co-sponsored by the Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies and the Center for Entertainment, Media, and Culture. I was honored to interview leading Holocaust scholar, Dr. Michael Berenbaum, and a remarkable Warsaw Ghetto survivor, Dania Berman. Her tearful recollections were so vivid. What a profound opportunity to see history being rediscovered. As Dania talked about her father securing a place to hide her during the Nazi occupation, Dr. Berenbaum helped her recreate an accurate timeline. Just as A Film Unfinished fills in missing pieces in the painful history, so our discussion clarified missing dates and places. Sixty years on, we’re still coming to grips with the gravity of the Shoah.

Craig has written about film in The New York Times, and appeared on CNN and NPR. He currently teaches film at Pepperdine University and works as a liaison between the university and the entertainment industry. This review first appeared on Craig’s blog and is republished here with his permission.