This is the best short Holocaust documentary I know. By "short", I mean shorter than Lanzmann's "Shoah".
The imagery is imaginative and exceptional: modern day footage of Lódz, paintings, colour photos -- lots of them. I was impressed by the sheer size of the photographic documentation, with much, most, of it unfamiliar to me anyway. It's not possible to believe that all of the photographic, and even cinematic, evidence actually comes from Lódz. There's just too much. But the short second documentary, the sequel, which follows on the videocassette release, makes it clear how that all came about.
The sequel also provides other significant information, such as the fate of Rumkowski, the leader of the ghetto Judenrat.
In these two films, writer/director Alan Adelson almost seems to be the Ken Burns of the Holocaust documentary. He arguably seems to have originated the Burns style to a certain extent, or at least appears to have received similar inspiration. Has Adelson's work really been limited to these two films alone?
The force of the narrative is really what takes Adelson's "Lódz Ghetto" out of the ordinary. The film is very dramatic, very moving, and very suspenseful, in spite of the inevitability of the outcome. If you can stand it, you will find it a profound experience.
The imagery is imaginative and exceptional: modern day footage of Lódz, paintings, colour photos -- lots of them. I was impressed by the sheer size of the photographic documentation, with much, most, of it unfamiliar to me anyway. It's not possible to believe that all of the photographic, and even cinematic, evidence actually comes from Lódz. There's just too much. But the short second documentary, the sequel, which follows on the videocassette release, makes it clear how that all came about.
The sequel also provides other significant information, such as the fate of Rumkowski, the leader of the ghetto Judenrat.
In these two films, writer/director Alan Adelson almost seems to be the Ken Burns of the Holocaust documentary. He arguably seems to have originated the Burns style to a certain extent, or at least appears to have received similar inspiration. Has Adelson's work really been limited to these two films alone?
The force of the narrative is really what takes Adelson's "Lódz Ghetto" out of the ordinary. The film is very dramatic, very moving, and very suspenseful, in spite of the inevitability of the outcome. If you can stand it, you will find it a profound experience.