The United Nations General Assembly established January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember the victims of the Holocaust, which wiped out roughly two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population between 1933 and 1945. Encyclopedia suggests that the International Holocaust Remembrance Day has two purposes. Firstly, it acts as a date for formal commemoration of Nazi regime victims, and secondly, it promotes Holocaust education worldwide.
Since 2010, the United Nations has assigned specific themes for the yearly commemorations, such as communal experiences and universal human rights. Today we look back at some of the most popular films in the past few decades which have depicted the holocaust aptly onscreen.
Schindler's List (1993)
Steven Spielberg's Best Picture masterwork, nominated for 12 Academy Awards and winning seven, is the actual story of a man who overcomes his own human faults to become a rescuer of hundreds of Jews. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a money-hungry Nazi supporter who is first unconcerned about the misery of the Jews; but, the picture of a small girl in a red coat, whose body he later finds among the dead, lingers with him. To protect his workers, he maintains an uneasy collaboration with the coldblooded Nazi officer Amon Goth (Ralph Fiennes) in his enamelware and ammunitions plants in German-occupied Poland. Schindler is credited with saving 1200 Jewish lives, and this film is a worthy tribute to the human spirit that endured through the atrocity.
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
What starts out as a beautiful love tale between Jewish Italians Guido (Roberto Benigni, who also directed) and Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) becomes a nightmare when they and their son are deported to death camps. Guido's passion for life motivates him to divert his son from the horrors of their circumstances and their separation from his mother via games and laughter. The film has garnered criticism for its humorous Holocaust themes; nonetheless, most viewers have been won over by Benigni's portrayal of parental love and human dignity. It went on to become one of the most successful non-English films of all time, earning several honours, including three Academy Awards (Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Benigni).
The Pianist (2002)
Based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), the film chronicles the Warsaw pianist's five-year fight to live when his nation was invaded by the Nazis. Szpilman and his family are sent to the Warsaw Ghetto, where they are finally separated. Later, Szpilman assists a Jewish insurrection, finally fleeing and trying his best to live by depending on people to conceal him and provide him with food. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director Roman Polanski, and Best Actor for Brody.
The Reader (2008)
Michael, a law student, is watching a trial of female Nazi guards and is surprised to learn that one of the defendants is an older lady with whom he had an affair in his adolescence. Hanna had frequently requested that he read to her during their time together, and he deduces a secret that might aid her in the trial but chooses to remain silent. What unfolds is a narrative of human failings: what some must do to survive, the consequences of a lack of knowledge, and the ways we explain our wrongs and then seek absolution in the face of our own shame.
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
At its best, Quentin Tarantino's revisionist history recounts two attempts to assassinate prominent Nazi officials. Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) is the lone survivor of Col. Hans Landa's attack on her Jewish family (Christoph Waltz, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar). When Shosanna is "invited" to host the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film four years later, she is managing a theatre under an assumed name and devises a clever scheme to rid the globe of the top Nazis. Meanwhile, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) commands a Jewish American army that scalps and kills German troops. In this incendiary perspective on what "should have been," the sins of the world are swept out in a blaze of splendour.
The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
This biography follows Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh), the director of the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain), as they work to hide Jews during the German invasion and occupation of Poland during WWII. While the Zabinskis risk their lives to conceal immigrants in the zoo's various tunnels and cages, they must also keep Dr. Lutz Heck (Daniel Bruhl), a former zoo rival and now Nazi regime supporter, at bay. The video recounts the atrocities of the Warsaw Ghetto, tragedies that humanitarians like Jan were compelled to not only watch but actively engage in, as well as the damage left by the occupation. The Zabinskis' efforts saved the lives of 300 Jews.
Son Of Saul (2015)
Saul is a Sonderkommando member, a group of concentration camp inmates responsible for herding other prisoners to the gas chambers and cleaning them afterward. Saul observes a Nazi doctor choke a youngster who is still alive after a gassing one day. Saul, believing that the youngster is his child, is determined to give the boy a proper Jewish burial and goes to great lengths to safeguard the body. This Hungarian film, a riveting narrative of futility and misery, received several accolades, including Best Picture prizes from both the Academy and the Golden Globes.
