A Film Unfinished
A Film Unfinished Image
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Metascore
88 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

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  • Starring: Alexander Beyer, Rüdiger Vogler
  • Summary: Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    100
    It's the only film that exists of the Ghetto, and it's both revelatory and profoundly suspect.
  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    100
    A profoundly unnerving historical document.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    Hersonski quietly and insistently unravels reality from "reality"; her commitment to archival authenticity is its own tribute to those no longer able to testify.
  4. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    80
    Hersonski enriches this evidence by bringing in survivors of the ghetto, who tell stories of life there while watching the film themselves.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 2 out of 4
  1. Winstonoboogie
    10
    Poetic as it is probing, illuminating as it is moving, this astonishing Holocaust documentary uses newly found archive footage to show the day-to-day horror, strife, and heroism among the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. And because the footage was intended as the centerpiece of a never-completed Nazi propaganda 'documentary,' it also shows with damning clarity the filmmakers' original evil intention to contrast the decadent lives of luxury supposedly lived by a handful of affluent Jews (all in ludicrously staged fictional footage) with the desperate and impoverished lives of their fellow citizens. Adding to the film's overwhelming power are the faces and words of survivors as they watch this document of a long-ago but never forgotten part of their lives; long-lost family, friends, and neighbors captured forever on film. Truly extraordinary.… Expand
  2. filmtrashreview
    8
    What is advertised as a shocking tail of a propaganda film is more or less a telling of the day to day life at the Warsaw Ghetto. I just wish the filmmakers understood how golden the stories and relationships of the survivors to the ghetto were. At times it feels as though the documentary is trying to be more of a conspiracy piece, placing twists and turns that are way to knowledgeable to the viewer to gain the gasps that they are working for.… Expand
  3. MrBBaggins
    0
    Um... I did not get a good vibe out of James Steal.

    How can anyone with any kind of intelligence disbelieve the voluminous evidence regardi    ng the biggest nightmare in human history? Some people's stupidity is awe-inspiring.… Expand

See all 4 User Reviews

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