Diagonaldi Very well executed

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

frankwiener 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.

sandnair87 Of all the films made about the Holocaust, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog is quite possibly the most shattering cinematic experience. The documentary is only 33 minutes in length but such is the scope of the journey he takes us on that there are no appropriate words to describe it. Alternating between past and (then) present, Night and Fog is a confrontation of the horrors that were perpetrated in the now abandoned grounds of the Nazi concentration camps.A beautiful blue sky may balance against a lovely field of green in the present, but underneath the colorful blend is the black-and-white despair captured in photographs and footage from when the camps were in use. More than anything else, it is the images themselves and the manner in which they are juxtaposed that speak the loudest. Each image, though, has a profoundly disturbing effect, conveying in the starkest terms the horrifying nature of human atrocity. Again and again we are pummeled with grotesque images that simultaneously beg us to look away and taunt us to keep looking, all of which are set to Hanns Eisler's sometimes ironic, sometimes momentous orchestral score. The film gets steadily more violent as it progresses, with images of arrested citizens in the streets giving way to images of starving prisoners giving way to images of charred bodies, dismembered heads, and footage of dozens of rag-doll bodies being bulldozed into a mass grave - the horrors go on and on in a never-ending nightmare at the hands of those who appointed themselves rulers of mankind's fate. Some of the images have an abstract, almost surreal quality, the most memorable being footage of a roomful of shaved human hair, the obviously enormous dimensions of which are impossible to discern.Resnais keeps the narration steady and level, letting the words describe the atrocities but keeping the voice (courtesy of narrator Michel Bouquet) relatively calm. This "normal" vocal approach contrasts with the staggering brutality of the images, driving home the fact that while your eyes may wish to believe that such things happen only in the most perverse of imaginations, the voice reminds you that, no, it happened in real life. Resnais and writer Jean Cayrot force us, by gentle means, to confront the gruesomeness of this past, and make it more immediate and shocking by detailing how some of the remains of the murdered were later used (in the creation of products such as soap).Night and Fog is a haunted litany about unspeakable events, then barely a decade old, the madness of history and the sin of forgetfulness. It's a modern evocation of the well-worn adage "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." Not surprisingly, near the end of Night and Fog, the narrator asks the most chilling question of all: "Could this happen again?"

awesomeness0232 I seldom review movies online, especially on sites like this where there are already a huge number of reviews. However, having just finished watching this film, I feel the need to record some thoughts. I came to IMDb and read the reviews before I put it on, and they made me a little uneasy. I was even hesitant to turn on Night and Fog after having read the reviews. However, especially given that I come from a Jewish family and had Grandparents in Europe during the Holocaust, I felt that I should sit down and watch this film just once. Besides, I had read the comments and knew what to expect. Trust me, nothing you read can tell you what to expect when you watch this film. Resnais is one of the greatest filmmakers France ever produced, and he manages to captivate and affect his audience as much in 30 minutes with Night and Fog as he or any other filmmaker has in any amount of time. The film will both compel and sicken you. You will want to turn it off, yet you won't be able to tear your eyes from the screen. If you seek an understanding of how horrifying the Holocaust truly was, look no further than Night and Fog.

giveandsee The documentary seeks to capture the viewer's attention by displaying that glimpse of what went in German concentration camps. This historical footage used in this film made available due to the German's documentation of their key activities. The Germans were very detailed and methodical in their management of the concentration camps.The documentary mentions that the concentration camps seemed like another world. The film started out with beautiful scenery. Beautiful scenery like farm lands, meadows, roads, resort towns, and areas of harvest. These areas were mentioned in a positive manner and were in close proximity to the contrasting concentration camps.The concentration camps testified to Germany's compressed industrial history. The film mentions that Germany itself was like an industrial machine, an industrial machine that was high in production and in working order because of its government. The Germans running the concentration camps believed they were being modern, scientific, or even groundbreaking. The concentration camps were built in tune with the modern times. There were contractors assigned to build them to a certain specification or style. The buildings even had bids on them to be built. The camps were build ahead of time before the prisoners arrived. When it came time fore the prisoners to arrive they were transported in modern age trains and vehicles. The Germans pushed the limit with their science. They experimented with the Jewish prisoners by use of inhumane methods and treatments. Their justification for the experiments was purely for scientific discovery. However, in legitimate science, scientist would not try to back up their views based on a racial bias. This operation was purely self-financed by the German Nazis so any conduct was accepted. Work ethic is heavily implemented in the lives of the Jewish prisoners. The SS stressed to the prisoners that "work is the only means of freedom". However, freedom wasn't possible for the prisoners in reality. Violence was a corrective action used by the SS. In the film it was by the implementation of heavy order. There was uninterrupted fear among the prisoners because at any time they could have a spot check, punishment, or a trip of no return. The killing or punishment by hand was present in the camps, but was not efficient. The Germans implemented mass killing in which they used the crematorium or the gas chamber. The film Night and Fog depicts the mass killings as a seamless process. It was almost like it was nothing to the Nazi German soldiers.At the concentration camps there were no individuals. The camps were only about the collective and smaller groupings of that collective. There were groupings such as woman, children, criminals, the elderly, disabled, and other groups. Certain measures were even made to destroy and individualism that survived with the prisoners. Each prisoner had to wear a symbol to signify that they were a Jewish prisoner. This symbol classified the Jews as a collective in the camps. The prisoners were stripped of all their individual clothes. This was not only humiliating but it reduced the prisoners to objects of flesh and bone. The prisoners started to look alike and have a indeterminable age because they were mostly naked, skinny, and tired. The Germans for the most part destroyed the Jewish prisoner's individuality and culture. However, the Jewish prisoners did keep their faith and found ways to mentally escape their hardship. They wrote letters, created sculptures, or even reflected on scriptures. (There may be some spelling mistakes but I think I got my idea across)