I was stunned during and after seeing this documentary movie. I missed it the first time through and thankfully it re-appeared at the same theatre two weeks later as it had done so well the first time. I had known a lot, but I also learned a lot.
I and my wife looked at each other and I said, "I think this is the best movie I have ever seen in my entire life, fiction or non-fiction." (And that is a lot of movies!) She said, "I agree." The depth of the effect on the audience was palpable.
Then leaving the theatre, there was a gentleman toward the back rows watching the remaining credits and I felt I had to say it again, "I think this is the best movie I have ever seen in my entire life, fiction or non-fiction." He said, "I agree."
If it is still in your area, see it. Not just because you are an artist as it is about art - at least on the surface - but because you are a human.
And it is the first time in a movie, that I have seen public acknowledgment that Hitler wanted to eliminate the Polish people first even before the Jewish people. He thoughts the Slavs were the worst people on the face of the earth. He set out to eliminate the people and the culture and its buildings from complete existence and then re-people it with Germanics. This was no less than the destruction of Carthage by the Romans. I have Polish friends who have said this for years. It never really gets publicized. They know their history as well as the Irish. Americans usually don't know diddly about their history.
Hitler/Nazis were the scum of the earth, which makes one wonder how anyone could ever be a neo-Nazi. Or how any one group of people could ever think their group of people were better than any other group...and then the worst of that FLAWED concept is, THEY THEN SIGN IT INTO LAW. The movie was timelesswaarning, as any government or any group can get out of hand and can go whacko through the unbridled aquisiton and misuse of power, just because any of them have all the weaknesses of any collective group of human beings. This is just not a Nazi thing that is over, it is something humans in every country live with the potential threat of every day.
It makes one think and weep for all the lost, destroyed and damaged artifacts of ancient civilizations that were lost due to the bad planning of the invasion of Iraq, and the Taliban in Afghanistan who in 2001 blew up the 1,500 year old epic beauty of the statues at Bamyan.
I will say no more. See it if it comes to your area. Truth is greater than fiction. Or, as Hamlet says:
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Here are some links:
http://www.rapeofeuropa.com/
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/REVIEWS/801030302/1023
http://www.actualfilms.net/rape.htm
http://movies.go.com/rape-of-europa/d913178/documentary
best,
in media res
P. S. But may I qualify what I say above by saying my favorite movie is still Walt Disney's - as opposed to the current Disney Corporation - animation of "Pinocchio."Last edited on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 05:57 pm by in media res
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