When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
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Reviews
Overrated
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
NIGHT WILL FALL is a shocking film indeed, containing as it does plenty of real-life 'death footage' from the Nazi concentration camps. Only strong stomachs need apply here, as the film features close-up clips of numerous dead bodies being thrown around and disposed of. It's certainly the most shocking WW2 footage that I've yet seen. It's disturbing and makes for incredibly harrowing viewing, but at the same time it's incredibly worthy. Lest we forget, and all that.The structure and narrative of this documentary is less revealing. There's a tenuous link to Alfred Hitchcock here, even though he had little to do with the actual production of the concentration camp films (other than acting as an adviser). Still, when the material is this distressing, the images speak for themselves, making NIGHT WILL FALL unmissable viewing.
As I watched this gut wrenching documentary, I found it hard to believe that there are people in the western world who think we should not take every means necessary to eradicate groups like ISIS. We have a holocaust unfolding before our very eyes on the internet and television, yet millions of people are against taking action against these barbaric, ideologically driven monsters. Perhaps we have become so pampered by our luxurious lives that we can compartmentalize those actions as "someone else's problem" or taking place in a "place far from home". Maybe we are too cowardly to make personal sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. Maybe we have become too optimistic, thinking that there is good in all people. As someone who has faced these "people" face to face, I can assure you that there is nothing redeeming about these demons. They would rape your infant daughter right in front of you, decapitate her and laugh in your face with absolutely no remorse. If we allow this enemy to strengthen, our society has about 5-7 years left.
I am the daughter and granddaughter of German Jews who got out just before Kristalnacht. I am also the relative of many many who were not as fortunate. My great-aunts and great-uncles along with unborn generations perished. Little to nothing is known about their fates; where or how they died and where they were interred.In high school, I saw a French documentary that showed me, for the first time, images I had never even imagined. Horror I could not believe. I remember my classmates getting up at the end of the film and walking out of the room seemingly unfazed. I couldn't move.Night Will Fall should be seen in every classroom on earth at least once. You cannot be too young or too old to understand the immense nature of mass insanity and those who stand idly by.I will never forget and, in fact, am galvanized in my belief that we are too quick to assume evil will not touch us.An absolute must see film. You will want to discuss this in depth with children before you let them watch and after.NEVER AGAIN.
The footage shown in this documentary is really excruciating... And it goes on and on and on. The film never really shies away from showing you the horrors of hundreds and hundreds of dead bodies in concentration camps being dragged across and piled up one of top of the others as if they were just mannequins. It's a nightmare-inducing vision that I don't think I will ever be able to erase from my memory. Mountain of personal objects, spectacles even human hair carefully sorted according to type and colours. And yet after a while I felt it was all beginning to be a little too much and I thought the film was probably going around in a circle and did not really have a lot more to say other than just showing detail over detail of the horror. Not that there is anything to say about the carnage that took place in those places, but somehow I felt this was probably a 40/50 minutes or so film stretched to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Yes the footage found is an incredible discovery and a terrifying testimony of a past that shouldn't be forgotten, but other than that, the film has very very little else to say. I also felt some of the use of the interviewees was a bit heavy-handed: cut to people staring into the void, or the use of pointless bit of dialogue just for the sake of seeing this people breaking down into tears half way through the phrase... There wasn't really any need for that. The original footage was heartbreaking enough without having to resort to people crying to make us the audience feel sad about it... or to dark ominous music. But that's just a question of taste. It's hard to review a documentary like this. Give it a small rating and you can be accused of being insensitive. But that's when you should really make a distinction between the subject matter and the material being shown and the actual craft of the documentary. The later is rather plodding, uneven, and as I said before a bit heavy-handed, but since the subject matter is so powerful, on balance 7 out 10 is perfectly justifiable.
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