The phrase "night will fall" - as we discover in the film of the same name - comes from a document whose author states that "unless the world learns the lesson these pictures teach, night will fall". In short, after WWII, Alfred Hitchcock was called in to edit a film of documentary footage of the liberation of the concentration camps. The film was never ultimately finished, and was shelved and forgotten - until someone discovered the footage in the 90s. The Imperial War Museum restored it, and this film is a documentary about it. So, a documentary about a documentary - incorporating much of the original documentary, and shedding light on why it was deliberately forgotten.
It's a BFI presentation, but showing at many cinemas around town - the nearest to me is the Vue Piccadilly, which also had the earliest showing I could make: always handy! So I headed in after work - accompanied as far as Piccadilly Circus by Helen, who was on her way to the British Museum - they were doing a members' evening. Anyhoo, it's a while since I was at this cinema, and I needed to look up directions. The Streetview image was useful, but there was no problem - directly across from the right-hand ticket barriers is the Regent Street exit; this brings you out at the top of Regent Street, and all you have to do is cross the road and walk a short distance to the left.
There was nobody on duty at street level, so I had to head downstairs to buy my ticket. I do have a Vue voucher, but - as I explained to him - wasn't sure I could use it there. He checked, and confirmed I couldn't. However, he was good enough to give me a student rate! which gave me a bigger discount than the voucher would..
I was first into the screen. I sat where I liked - in the end, there were just about six of us, and seating was not an issue. The seats are fabulously plush - I had to check I wasn't in the premier row, but no - they're all like that! Mind you, although the seat backs do recline, they're on a spring, and the fulcrum seemed to be too high up the back - I would've liked more lower back support. Never mind, they were quite comfy! Among the trailers was a scary, new one for Annabelle. Looking forward to that..
Right, back to tonight's film. We all remember the footage we've seen - emaciated prisoners, striped uniforms, mass graves, war trials. What was unique about the footage used in this documentary is how intimate and up-close it is - as is explained, this was very unusual for war footage. Untrained soldiers were given cameras and told to shoot what they could to prove that this really happened. Indeed, as is explained, Russian soldiers had already come across such camps in Poland, but had a history of exaggeration and weren't believed - until the same were found in Germany. The film-makers aimed to make a work of art that told an important story.
But then - events overtook them. It was taking too long.. the Americans produced a shorter, quicker, more sensationalist film, "Death Mills". Besides, the emphasis now was on helping the Germans to recover, not lecturing them. Plus, the flood of refugees heading for Palestine was a worry, and the British government didn't want to back anything that could encourage support for them..
Original, restored, footage is added to by later interviews with participants, right up to the present-day interviews with camp survivors. The images are truly moving - and unlike many a documentary I could mention, this one deserves its high rating. Not just a rating on the basis of subject matter, this is a true rating of the quality of the film.
I must note my trip to the toilet on the way out - the first cubicle in the ladies' was in a terrible state, the seat smeared with excrement. "Tell a staff member", the sign says - pity there weren't any about. The handy Tesco Express next door provided me with a pizza for dinner, and other essential grocery items. For tomorrow, I've booked a ticket for a play called Chicken Shop. It's a bit of a slog up to the Park Theatre, but it sounds good, and I did get a discount code (CHICKEN) for full-price tickets, from a website called A Younger Theatre.
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