Night and Fog (1956)

This French short documentary inordinately details the realities of the Nazi concentration camps, juxtaposing color footage taken at the time of the film with black and white stills and videos from the years of the Holocaust. Over the years I’ve read and seen much about the Holocaust, but never have I seen such a comprehensive recitation of what went on behind the walls of the camps. It includes everything from the most mundane details on architecture to the worst degradations that are beyond normal imagination. The horrors just continue to grow through the film and serve as a stark reminder that this could happen again. My only slight complaint about the film was the overuse of narration. It was often unnecessary, overly opinionated and almost detracted from the strength of the images themselves.