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Verdict on Auschwitz
First Run Features
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
One of the most important trials of the 20th century began in 1963, when 360 witnesses from 19 countries, including 211 Auschwitz survivors, confronted former members of Hitler's SS -- many of whom had made comfortable lives for themselves in postwar West Germany -- and accused them of taking part in the mass murder of millions. Using excerpts from the trial, the filmmakers bring to life the investigation, the courtroom drama and the verdict in this historic trial involving perpetrators of the "Final Solution." (First Run Features)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
Foreign
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Rolf Bickel
Dietrich Wagner
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 17, 2007
Theatrical: January 12, 2007
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
180 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Germany |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
German (with English subtitles) |
Also known as "Verdict on Auschwitz: The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial 1963-1965"
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
As both historical document and human document, this 180-minute epic is infinitely valuable.
100
Film Threat
Phil Hall
A powerful condemnation of evil – not just the act of cruelty itself, but the refusal of many people to acknowledge the cruelty after the damage was done.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Scott Brown
In three hours of discursive yet rivetingly essential documentary footage (an eyeblink by Holocaust doc standards), Verdict on Auschwitz not only tracks the 20-month trial but meticulously re-creates it.
90
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Consider the context, though, and this German-made documentary becomes a fascinating record -- via a two-year Frankfurt courtroom drama less splashy than either the Nuremberg or Eichmann trials that preceded it -- of the country’s awkward baby steps toward confronting its hideous legacy.
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Scrupulous, haunting and necessary documentary.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Frank Scheck
An invaluable addition to the ever growing canon of Holocaust-themed films.
80
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
The Verdict on Auschwitz doesn't sound like much of a cliffhanger. ("Guilty.") But this three-part German television documentary of the Frankfurt trial that lasted from 1963 to 1965 uses unheard audiotapes of camp survivors and SS men to construct a portrait that transcends even these momentous particulars: of a vast, self-sustaining ecosystem of sadism and greed.
80
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
The model is Alain Resnais's "Night and Fog"; Verdict on Auschwitz similarly juxtaposes archival footage and postwar material (both 1963 and 1993) to produce shocking eruptions of past atrocities in the context of an orderly everyday Europe.
80
Variety
Ronnie Scheib
Represents a fascinating reflection on Germany's ongoing attempts to come to terms with its past.
70
The New York Times
Neil Genzlinger
A stark, emotionally draining documentary.
70
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Valuable and instructive as it is, Verdict on Auschwitz can sometimes be so focused on the details it fails to show us the forest for the trees.
70
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Many who testified were Jews, but their stories were echoed by German dissidents and members of the Polish resistance. Their statements are chilling, though prosecutor Joachim Kugler avers that the photos and documents left behind by Nazi bureaucrats were enough to convict the accused.
63
Miami Herald
Marta Barber
Divided into three sections -- The Investigation, The Process, The Verdict -- the film does not make for easy viewing. But for those willing to learn what lies behind the photographs of mounds of corpses and the history of Auschwitz, Verdict fills in any questions you may have.
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