This is a French documentary from 1956 on the Holocaust. Its original name is Nuit et brouillard. It combines footage shot by both the Nazis and the Allies as well as contemporary material recorded by the director. It's poignantly narrated by actor Michel Bouquet. The film was commissioned by the French government, who however censored the hat of a French police officer who was seen working at a Nazi internment camp. Said officer could be identified as French by that hat and the government did not wish to admit to any sort of French complicity in the horrors seen in the film.

Those are facts. Now, having seen this documentary, I will present you all with a personal opinion. Screw Hitler and all those other Nazis who made the Holocaust possible. That may be a controversial opinion, but I can't find it in my heart to give any more of a balanced view. I had known about the things seen in the film, and I had seen some of the footage before. On the whole, however, this documentary was the most disturbing thing I've seen. It also makes me loathe online Holocaust deniers even more than I already did. God, those people suck. I mean, some of them may well be cool people otherwise, but the Holocaust denying part is not something I could ever completely overlook. I wish they'd watch Night and Fog, and then slap themselves. In the face. And then get something else that's real but more benign to deny, such as O. J. Simpson's guilt or Elvis' death.

It's a ************ of a film. I first saw it at the holocaust exhibit at the Imperial War Museum as a young teen. Nestled between more clinical descriptions of the camps and grainy old photos of emaciated survivors was a small screen running this documentary on a loop; the sight of piles of bodies being bulldozed into a mass grave was ****ing terrifying and is still indelibly marked upon my memory. More recently I sat down and watched it all the way through and it wasn't the graphic stuff that hit home so much as the piles of spectacles, mountains of boots or the entire warehouses stuffed with human hair.

There are a couple of other documentary films in a similar nature on conflicts/crimes against humanity that I think are really worthwhile watching if you have the stomach for it: "Hearts and Minds" or "The Act of Killing / Look of Silence" pair.

The Act of Killing is easily one of the greatest documentaries I have ever seen if for no other reason than how weird it is to watch it. I need to watch the 'sequel' and also everything else Oppenheimer ever makes.

Just out of curiosity, how could that possibly be a controversial opinion?

It'd get you banned from r/t_d. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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