Night and Fog

Filmed just ten years after their closure, this is one of the earliest cinematic glances ever taken at the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, and it pulls no punches. Harrowing stills and snippets of film from the height of the genocide are interspersed with long, lingering shots of the overgrown concrete shells left behind, while a stirring narration pulls the audience into the victims' shoes. It's terribly difficult material, but the sensitive, carefully written voiceover frames things in a way that's honest and factual without feeling aggressive or exploitative. That French vocal track moves quickly, so I had trouble keeping up with the subtitles on a few occasions, but considering the breadth of observations it crams into a very short running time, I think that's forgivable. Extremely dark, heavy, emotional stuff that shouldn't be forgotten, my only qualm is with the absurdly cheery, generic stock music that fleshes out the background in a few scenes.

It feels wrong to rate or "recommend" this film. This must be the most explicit movie about the Holocaust I ever saw. (Because it might be the most explicit existing)