"Genocide" Film Review

Before meeting Holocaust survivor, Gilbert Michlin, watching the film “Genocide” chronicling the events of the Holocaust was very appropriate. I have seen many Holocaust films, read many Holocaust books but this movie was one of the best I’ve seen. The images were graphic and the information presented shocking, but it was done in a way that was not repulsive but extremely emotional. The film was a good combination of footage and photography from the horrific ordeal. My favorite part was the inclusion of the rebellion of one village when forced to burn their books. They sang a traditional Hebrew song with the lyrics “we will outlive them.” The film demonstrated the power and strength of the Jewish people as a whole very well. The emphasis on the Jews’ courage and perseverance was made clear in the movie. The film was both historical and informative as well as moving.

Personally, I was almost moved to tears multiple times watching the film. The combination of touching letters, images, and stories presented in the film were powerfully emotional. The Holocaust is such a well-studied piece of history that sometimes one is over saturated with information and emotions evoked are slight. The film Genocide was different though. The details emphasized were different than the typical and evoked emotions that a lot of presentations of the Holocaust do not. As a whole, this film is important to the larger subject of human rights because the Holocaust was the tragic event that caused the world to see human rights as a universal concept that needed to be protected. Before the Holocaust, the world was relatively isolated when it came to protecting human rights. The UN did not exist and the thought of an international body to intervene in human rights violations was a foreign concept. After the horrors seen and witnessed in the Holocaust, it was obvious that there needed to be an organization and legal standard to prevent and prosecute these kind of genocides and crimes against humanity. The film Genocide is appropriately titled with such a general name to describe the Holocaust because this was the first genocide that would change the course of human rights protection forever.