Shoah (4 Disc Set & 184 Page Book Special Edition Box Set) [DVD] [1985]

RRP: £49.99
Our Price: £36.99 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

To write a review of a film such as Shoah seems an impossible task: how to sum up one of the most powerful discourses on film in such a way as to make people realise that this is a documentary of immense consequence, a documentary that is not easy to watch but important to watch, a documentary that not only records the facts but bears witness. We are commanded "Never forget"; this film helps us to fulfil that mandate, reverberating with the viewer long after the movie has ended. Yes, Holocaust films are plentiful, both fictional and non-, with titles such as The Last Days, Schindler's List and Life Is Beautiful entering the mainstream. But this is not a film about the Holocaust per se; this is a film about people. It's a meandering, nine-and-a-half-hour film that never shows graphic pictures or delves into the political aspects of what happened in Europe in the 1930s and 40s but talks with survivors, with SS men, with those who witnessed the extermination of 6 million Jews.

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years tracking people down, cajoling them into talking, asking them questions they didn't want to face. When soldiers refuse to appear on film, Lanzmann sneaks cameras in. When people are on the verge of breaking down and can't answer any more questions, Lanzmann asks anyway. He gives names to the victims--driving through a town that was predominantly Jewish before Hitler's time, a local points out which Jews owned what. Lanzmann travels the world, speaking to workers in Poland, survivors in Israel, officers in Germany. He is not a detached interviewer; his probings are deeply personal. One man farmed the land upon which Treblinka was built. "Didn't the screams bother you?" Lanzmann asks. When the farmer seems to brush the issues aside with a smile, Lanzmann's fury is noticeable. "Didn't all this bother you?" he demands angrily, only to be told, "When my neighbour cuts his thumb, I don't feel hurt." The responses, the details are difficult to hear but critical nonetheless. Shoahtells the story of the most horrifying event of the 20th century, not chronologically and not with historical detail, but in an even more important way: person by person. --Jenny Brown

Harrowing, Relentless but Essential
Review date: 2010-07-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

Claude Lanzemans masterpiece Shoah is a struggle to watch. Nineteen hours of subtitle's would be enough to put even the most determined off but Shoah is essential viewing for anyone wanting to catch a glimpse of what the greatest crime in human history entailed. Shoah portrays the holocaust through the aural remembrances of those who witnessed it. The harrowing accounts of survivors by the camps are set beside deeply disturbing remembrances of train drivers, inhabitants of villages that were 'emptied' of their jewish neighbours, and most shocking of all testimonies (sometimes secretly filmed!) of Germans who ran and participated in the death camps.

This is not easy viewing by any means, but for anyone who wishes to know more about the human reality of the evil of the holocaust - you cannot avoid it.

Reviews

A must
Review date: 2010-06-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

A must for all to see, especially the younger generations. The most disturbing and real version of how the holocaust really effected the suffering and those surrounding the camps.

Excellent
Review date: 2009-09-24 Rating: 10 out of 10

A must for anyone interested in the Holocaust. I first this when it was shown on TV and was taken aback by it. In places its not easy to watch but must be watched. There is an interview in a bar with a balding man who is serving beers and hes asked how many beers do you sell a day and he wont answer eventually he does and then strikes up a conversation with the director of the film about how busy he is and how long he's been working there - then the bomb-shell he's asked if he recognising a SS man Christian Wirth, the Death Camp inspector and then he asks the man by name Mr. Oberhauser were you at Belzec, can I ask you about Belzec. Herr Oberhauser walks away. Fantastic viewing. A real must

Compulsive, Heartbreaking Viewing - We Must Never Forget.
Review date: 2009-02-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

The previous reviews have said everything that is necessary on this sublime documentary which interviews those on both sides of the "Jewish Question" in Europe during WW2. But I want to make special mention of one moment which haunts me after viewing.

An elderly man is singing a catchy song. The tune is simple - sort of thing children could sing round a camp fire or on a school bus outing - but as the words appear on screen the viewer realises the song is about Treblinka extermination camp. The words refer to Treblinka being "my destiny" and how they are "marching forwards". The man singing the song is former Nazi camp guard. The Jewish prisoners had to learn the song and be able to sing it by the end of their first day in the camp.

Shocking, casual cruelty, which makes it all the more unspeakably chilling.

On the other hand there is some humour in this 4 disc film - mostly from the wonderful Auschwitz escapee Rudolf Vrba - who comments that the sytem relied on the Jews moving everywhere quickly. "We had to run from the train, run to the ramp, run to the undressing room, run to the showers" he pauses and with a twinkle in his eye which lifts the mood he adds "well, they are a very SPORTY nation....".

This film is not an easy watch, but it should be a compulsory watch, in my opinion, as ordinary men and women recount the horrors of the Nazi final solution in their own words - breaking down in tears as some speak for the first and only time in their lives for the benefit of future generations.

SHOAH
Review date: 2008-09-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

I first saw this documentary/film in the 1980's it moved me to tear's then,and when I watched it again it had the same affect on me.I bought my copy of the film via Amazon Co Uk, in a four dvd box set.It took me quite a time to watch it all the way through,to listen to the people who lived near to where these dreadful concentration camp's were,and in some case's still are.One man say's in the end you get used to the shot's,the scream's,and the dog's alway's barking,you had to go on living,otherwise you might end the same way,but you never ever forget the awful sight's,and sound's which we saw daily.The train's came in full of people,and left empty,what had happened to them,why was it so quite,of course we soon found out,what could we do, nothing................!
I personally think this film/documentary should be shown to all school children over the age of thirteen,or when their studie's include the Second World War.It is so shocking that a so called civilised nation could do such thing's,gassing's,shooting's,torture,murder,and to listen to the people who actually carried it out,spoke about it as if it was just a job,they were ordered to do it,so what's the big deal,it was war,so what...!!What amazes me that the people who actually carried out these crime's against the innocent victim's of the Holocaust,haven't all been rounded up,and got rid of themselve's....!
Many of the people who took part in Claude Lanzmann's film will now be dead themselve's,or if not will be in their late eightie's/ninetie's.I think that Claude Lanzmann was a very brave person to make this huge documentary about a subject,that to many people in certain countrie's in Europe,would prefer that it isn't talked about,they want to forget about the Nazis,and what they stood for......I think that it should never ever forgotten,and by remembering,we as the people of the world must try to stop anything like the Holocaust ever happening again......!!!!

Product Details/Specifications

Director(s):

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Recording label: Eureka Entertainment Ltd
Manufacturer: Eureka Entertainment Ltd
EAN: 5060000402421
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: Box set, PAL, Dolby,
Release date: 2007-02-19
Number of discs: 4
Audience rating: Exempt
Region code: 2
Running time: 550 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1985
Language: English (Original Language)