Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

hyped garbage

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I have spent much of my adult life trying to understand the intensity of the hatred that led to the Holocaust of World War II. While millions of others also died at the hands of the Nazis, I have always been challenged by the one obsessive goal of the Nazis to destroy the once vibrant Jewish community of Europe by any means possible. This documentary by French director Alain Resnais of just over 30 minutes may not provide any of the answers for which I have been spending my entire life searching, but it does at least attempt to capture the enormous horror that occurred at that time. Resnais deliberately contrasts the peaceful surroundings that existed at the sites of the Nazi camps following the war against the unimaginable level of human cruelty, suffering, and violence that took place at these locations during the war. While some reviewers have taken issue with the background music, which they found to be far too whimsical or fanciful for the gravity of the subject matter, I believe that Resnais intended to use this kind of music to enhance the stunning sense of irony between the serenity that prevailed at the campsites at the time of filming and the overwhelming chaos and disorder that once caused such profound anguish to so many at the very same locations. While I appreciate the negative reaction of some viewers to the choice of music, I don't share it. I also note that, for whatever reason, there seem to be very few photographs and film footage available that caught firsthand the widespread atrocities of the Nazis in the camps and beyond. Resnais used what little was available to him in order to convey his essential and shocking message to his audience.First time viewers need to proceed with caution. In spite of its often repulsive but real content, this is a film that must be seen in order for us to realize just how cruel human beings can be to each other. We need to understand this so that this tragic chapter of history does not repeat itself.

I have to say I am a bit baffled that this half-hour documentary from 60 years ago is so famous to this day. Resnais was in his early 30s when this was made, but already had a pretty prolific body of work. The film's narrator is probably the biggest issue for me. It's a bit odd to see the commentary writer also worked in the animation department for "Oggy et les cafards". Anyway, his style here is extremely sterile and even if this documentary is about an issue as serious as it gets (life at labor and concentration camps during World War II), there is also all the suffering involved and I believe you have to bring in emotion somehow as this topic asks for it. Almost the whole thing is in black and white and it occasionally seems like a collection of photos. There is not much motion in this picture. The music is sometimes off the mark as well, too playful for the things depicted. It's a bit odd to me as I believed Hanns Eisler to be more thoughtful and talented in that regard. These 32 minutes are certainly worth a watch for the content, but that is pretty much it and I would say that it has not aged particularly well. Oh and it is in French, so make sure you get subtitles as well if you aren't a native speaker. And stay away if you cannot cope with watching the atrocities of war.

I saw "Night and Fog" in film class as a teenager over 40 years ago. I have never forgotten it, nor will ever as long as I live.Anyone who sees this film will understand what will happen when one group of human beings cedes absolute dominance over themselves to another group. Notice my use of the word "will". Some may not ADMIT they understand (eg., the holocaust deniers), but they WILL understand.One point seven million Cambodians, one million Armenians, four hundred thousand Cossacks, three million Ukrainians, six million Jews as well as a like number from other "undesirable" categories. On and on...And yes, the Holocaust DID happen.One half hour you will never, ever forget. Absolutely shattering.

I've seen an awful lot of Holocaust documentaries (both for scholastic purposes and for writing research), and thought I'd seen everything that could shock me by now. Then I watched "Night And Fog." It's truly amazing how much poignant footage can be captured in a slight 31 minutes. Yes, there are plenty of familiar scenes for those of us who know our history (and who've seen the excellent BBC series like "Nazis: A Warning From History" and "Inside Auschwitz"), but there are moments in "Night..." that genuinely took my breath away, such as a lingering shot of a building whose sole purpose was to store the hair shorn from prisoners and later sold by the Nazis to wig makers and the like. That scene kicked me in the gut as hard as, if not harder than, the more familiar one we've seen of the warehouse full of shoes taken from prisoners before they went to their deaths.Short, to the point, astonishingly well shot, and gut-wrenching. I agree with the other reviewers who've said this should be mandatory viewing in history classes. If more documentaries could pack the punch that "Night And Fog" has done, perhaps history would be less likely to repeat itself. A must-see.