Films about the Holocaust that you should watch
Holocaust – one of the most horrific massacres that has taken place in the history of mankind. Humanity is still horrified by the vision of mass extermination on racial and ethnic grounds, which led to the creation of death camps and the death of several million people, mostly of Jewish origin.
Although more than decades have passed since the liberation of the concentration camps in Europe, the memory of those events is not lost. It is still important and necessary, especially as a warning to future generations of what man is capable of. One form of commemoration and preservation for memory’s sake, are films dealing with this subject.
Many films about the Holocaust have been made over the years, and it is impossible to list them all in one text. However, it is worth noting how great the variety is and how much choice the cinema offers us in the field of camp themes.
The films on this list of the best Holocaust films are widely rated by the community as the best. During World War II, over 6 million Jews were murdered on the orders of Adolf Hitler.
So which Holocaust films are worth watching?
1. “The Pianist” from 2002, directed by Roman Polanski
This film tells the incredible story of the Polish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, in wartime Warsaw. All events are based on facts and accounts of Szpilman himself. The pianist experiences terrible moments in his life, loses his family and friends, and is left all alone. Fortunately, he manages to survive. It has earned the title of one of Roman Polanski’s best films of recent years.
2. 1993 Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg
Spielberg’s touching film is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, an NSDAP member and hedonist who risked his life to save some 1,100 people from death during World War II. Schindler is the owner of a large factory located in the area of present-day Krakow, where Jews worked in inhuman conditions. “Schindler’s List is a film considered by critics to be the best in Steven Spierberg’s output. The movie evokes emotions and “transports” us to those terrible times.
3. “Life is Beautiful” from 1997, directed by Roberto Benigni
The Holocaust is shown in a different mirror. This film is a comedy in which a clownish Italian villager, with a clownish manner, as a half-Jew is sent to a concentration camp with his immediate family.
4. Escape from Sobibor, 1987, directed by Jack Gold
The filmed drama tells the story of how, after the escape of prisoners from the Treblinka camp, the Sobibor camp commandant decides to further tighten the rigour. In the end, a mass escape turns out to be the only chance of survival.
5. “In Darkness” from 2011, directed by Agnieszka Holland
A picture about the dramatic experiences and fate of Jews from Lviv, who spend a large part of the occupation in the sewers. Their fate is taken care of by a greedy, but ultimately helpful Pole – Tadeusz Socha.
6. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Mark Herman, 2008
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a classic tearjerker. Based on John Boyne’s novel of the same title. Bruno, a little boy living in Berlin, moves with his family to the countryside after his father, an SS officer, receives a new assignment from his boss. During his lonely wanderings in the countryside, he discovers a mysterious area, full of brick buildings surrounded by barbed wire. Right next to the fence, he makes friends with a “boy in striped pyjamas” named Szmul. What will happen if one day Bruno manages to cross the border between the two worlds and puts on a blue and white striped suit himself?
7. “The Diary of Anne Frank”, George Stevens, 1959
Anne Frank’s Diary has lived to see many screen adaptations like TV series and movies. The most famous of them is the 3 Academy Award-winning The Diary of Anne Frank (dir. George Stevens, 1959) starring Millie Perkins.
8. Sophie’s Choice, Alan J. Pakula, 1982
This is a 1982 American drama directed by Alan J. Pakula. The story of a budding writer from Virginia who has settled in Brooklyn. The peace he needs to write his first novel is constantly disturbed by his neighbours. A young couple is living next door whose loud love and even louder arguments confuse him. It turns out that Nathan Landau, a disturbed Jewish intellectual, is morbidly obsessed with collecting evidence of crimes committed against the Jewish people. His friend is Zofia Zawistowska, a Polish woman from Krakow, a former prisoner of the Auschwitz camp, whose closest relatives: father, husband and two children were killed by the Nazis.
9. Judgment at Nuremberg, Stanley Kramer, 1961
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film about the Holocaust and the geopolitical complexity of the Nuremberg trials after World War II.
10. The Reader, Stephen Daldry, 2008
The Reader is a 2008 German-American love drama based on the 1995 German novel by Bernhard Schlink. The film was written by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry.
Let’s see also the most interesting books about the holocaust in another post!