Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, September 23: THE LAST OF THE UNJUST
Claude Lanzmann’s revisitation of the Holocaust through a singular perspective debuted at Cannes last year. It went on to screen at Toronto, New York, London, CPH:DOX, Torino, Seattle, and Thessaloniki Doc fest, among several others.
In making his 1985 nine-hour opus about the Holocaust Lanzmann found himself unable to reconcile a problematic interview he conducted and filmed in 1975 with Rabbi Benjamin Murmelstein, the last surviving Jewish elder, appointed by the Nazis to administer the propagandistic “model camp” Theresienstadt, heralded as a “gift” to the Jews but in fact a notorious concentration camp. Labeled a collaborator, Murmelstein spent his remaining years in Rome, feeling unwelcome in Israel, despite being acquitted of all charges. Although Lanzmann decided not to include Murmelstein in his film, he confesses here that their interview haunted him, so much so that nearly forty years later, the director has focused his latest project solely on the controversial figure. Though new footage has been incorporated featuring Lanzmann’s travels to key locations noted by the elder, the weight of the film comes from the interview. Presented out of chronological order, this exchange captures a complex man who has answers and justifications for every question posed, always insisting, not unconvincingly, that his actions stemmed from a pragmatism that at least kept some alive – not least of which, Murmelstein himself. This is an encounter full of ambiguities, and its easy to see why the director was affected – there are no easy conclusions to be drawn in assessing the character of man in many ways forced to take on an ultimately thankless role. It makes for a challenging, yet riveting, viewing experience.
what (not) to doc 