A Film Unfinished

Just after WWII, an hour-long film labeled simply “Das Ghetto” was found in Nazi archives, showing images from the Warsaw Ghetto.  There was no explanation of the film, no paper work.  Although it was clearly a work of propaganda, with staged scenes showing some Jews living the high life in fancy restaurants, swank apartments and theater shows, the purpose of other scenes remains mysterious.  The discovery of outtake footage 54 years later (including some surprising color film) raises more questions than it answers.  Why stage a scene of Jewish policemen directing a Jewish mob?  Why have them walk nonchalantly past corpses in the streets?  Is it to show that even the Jews are indifferent to the fate of their own kind?  Did the Nazis intend to portray them as the architects of their own problems?

Yael Hersonski’s documentary doesn’t get very far in answering these questions, despite testimony from one of the cameramen, recollections from survivors, and the diaries of the chief Jewish official in the ghetto.  Perhaps the lack of written records makes it difficult to put together a narrative thread concerning this footage, but one wishes for more development of a central theme.  It weaves around without seeming to find a point.  Nonetheless, it’s a haunting look at life for Jews in the ghetto at the depth of their misery, and a sober reminder of how easy it is to manipulate truth with a camera.  Rating: Good

IMDb