Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust

Perhaps as a result, Hollywood would spend the next several decades reminding everyone exactly how horrific the massacres had been. So it seems contradictory that Imaginary Witness should use its second half to chide contemporary filmmakers for not treating the Holocaust with enough heed. ... Full Review

Consistently surprising - and with only a hint of American-style maudlinness tainting its be-all-you-can-be motif - the movie is best appreciated as an intimate family portrait, chock-full of truthful details that are alternately poignant and hilarious. ... Full Review

The first reveals Hollywood's reluctance to critique the rise of Nazism during the 1930s, even though the majority of its powerful moguls were Jewish. After Kristallnacht in late 1939, some Hollywood execs took action -- studios hired as many German-Jewish refugees as they could while a vocal anti-Nazi league urged boycotts -- but most of it occurred off-screen. ... Full Review

How do you depict the unfathomable?Can tragedy be re-created without cheapening it?These are the familiar questions passed between interviewees in Imaginary Witness , a survey of how American cinema has historically interpreted Nazi atrocity. ... Full Article

IMAGINARY WITNESS: HOLLYWOOD AND THE HOLOCAUST Rated:NR For movie details, please click here . Director Daniel Ankers plodding feature tries to convey the difficulties inherent in re-enacting evil as art, but Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust falls into the... ... Full Article