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JEWS
CARRY OUT THE HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST IN THE GREY
ZONE
Those who have seen the original film footage of
the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, whether in the
1955 classic Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog)
or as evidence in the trial of Nazis presented in Nuremberg
(1999), may think that they are inured to the shock of seeing
dead bodies piled on top of one another in a pit. But they
might want to empty out their popcorn bags for possible use
while viewing The Grey Zone, directed
by Tim Blake Nelson, who brings his 1996 play to the screen.
Titles at the beginning of the film tell us that the Nazis
at the Birkenau death camp did not use Germans to lead Jews
into the crematoria or to clean up afterward. They used Jews,
called Sonderkommandos, who were allowed ample food and reasonable
accommodations to perform the various tasks; but after four
months they, too, were executed. The story was later told
by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli (played by Allan Corduner), a skilled
Jewish physician who, in exchange for his life, volunteered
to perform medical experiments for Dr. Mengele (played by
Henry Stram). Accordingly, we see a trainload of Hungarian
Jews disembark at Birkenau. To the surreal accompaniment of
Jewish musicians playing Strauss waltzes, they walk into the
death chambers. When they arrive, they are told to hang all
their clothes on numbered coat racks, whereupon they are asked
to enter the gas chamber to delouse themselves. Jews, then,
rough up defiant prisoners, and we see one beaten to death
while his wife is screaming. Soon, a Jewish prisoner closes
the door to the gas chamber. The next task is to sort out
all the clothing and other possessions for use by the Germans
or even by the Jewish prisoners themselves. After the gas
kills everyone, the Jews dutifully load them on carts, move
them to the furnaces, and push the bodies manually along ramps
into the furnaces. Then the gas chamber is cleaned and repainted,
ready for the next load of victims.
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Meanwhile,
women at a nearby munitions factory, including a Lesbian,
Dina (played by Mira Sorvino), are smuggling gunpowder to
the Jewish prisoners at Birkenau, who in turn are planning
a revolt. When Nazis discover that gunpowder is missing, they
torture Dina and her lover Rosa (played by Natasha Lyonne)
to find out where the gunpowder is going; rather than divulge
the information, the two watch as the Nazis execute one female
prisoner after another until they run, hoping that the killings
will stop when they are shot. The Birkenau revolt consists
of a few rounds fired from an automatic weapon and explosions
in two of the crematoria. A few Nazis die, those in the revolt
are all executed, but the crematoria were never rebuilt, as
the Russians were then advancing through Poland. Throughout
the film, Birkenau's commandant Muhsfeldt (played by Harvey
Keitel) importunes the prisoners, trying to keep them in check
psychologically. But the most profound question, raised by
Muhsfeldt, is why a single Jew agreed to perform such tasks
just to lengthen his life by four months. The film is about
the twelfth of the thirteen Sonderkommandos. According to
titles at the end, Muhsfeldt was later tried as a war criminal
and executed. As an effort to bring the little-known Birkenau
revolt to the screen and as a vivid portrayal of the Nazi
barbarities, the Political Film Society has nominated The
Grey Zone for awards as best film exposé
and best film on human rights for 2002. MH
AMERICAN
FILMMAKERS CELEBRATE THAILAND
American Films About Thailand,
an essay by Michael Haas, is the latest contribution to the
Working Paper Series of the
Political Film Society. Originally presented at the annual
convention of the International Studies Association, Western
Branch, in Las Vegas on October 18, the essay (and the 27
other Working Papers) can
be obtained for a $5 contribution by writing
to the Political Film Society.
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