Film: Shoah
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Country: France
Released: April 1985
Runtime: 566 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Les Films Aleph
Influenced: Errol Morris, Steven Spielberg, Joshua Oppenheimer, Ari Folman, Adam Curtis
A monumental documentary that is not for the faint at heart, Claude Lanzmann's Shoah is not a conventional film in the traditional sense, more an historical document in the same vein as Le Chagrin et la Pitié (1969) by fellow French director, Marcel Ophuls. The film's unique approach, powerful storytelling and historical significance have left an indelible mark on the way documentaries portray history and memory. The idea for Shoah was conceived by Lanzmann in the early 1970s when he set out to create a documentary about the Holocaust. Lanzmann was dissatisfied with the way Holocaust-related events were typically depicted in films and wanted to create a more authentic and visceral portrayal of the Holocaust. His aim was not to make a historical account with archival footage but to construct a living memory of the event by interviewing survivors, witnesses and perpetrators.
Shoah also eschews traditional narrative techniques in favour of explorations of Holocaust sites, and structurally the film is divided into two parts, with a central segment in between. In the first part, Lanzmann interviews Holocaust survivors, particularly from the Polish ghettos and concentration camps, who provide testimonies of the atrocities they witnessed and endured during the Holocaust. Then follows a central segment, which shifts the film's focus to the Chelmno extermination camp, where Lanzmann interviews a former Nazi officer, Franz Suchomel. The chilling testimony of a perpetrator provides a haunting and disturbing insight into the mindset and mechanics of the Holocaust.
Lanzmann's use of long, uninterrupted shots while capturing train journeys, as well as locations of the death camps, creates an immersive experience for viewers, making them feel the weight of history. In the second part, the director shifts focus again to Israel, where he interviews Jewish survivors who fought as partisans against the Nazis in Eastern Europe. The accounts of survivors who turned into resistance fighters is not presented by Lanzmann simply to highlight the courage and determination of those who fought back against Nazi oppression, but also as a way for the director to explore how survivors are coping in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Shoah challenged conventional documentary length, using its extensive runtime to explore the Holocaust comprehensively and to avoid oversimplification. By relying on survivors' first-hand testimonies and avoiding archival footage, Lanzmann emphasised the power of personal stories in documenting history. Also, Lanzmann's use of long, contemplative shots and the absence of traditional narration contribute to the film's immersive and emotionally resonant nature. The film has become a crucial educational resource for teaching the Holocaust, and also played a pivotal role in shaping our collective memory, offering an authentic and emotionally gripping representation of the tragedy.
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