Movie Critique of “Genocide”

“It has happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say.”- Primo Levi

As always, the remembrance of The Holocaust through films is always very hard to watch due to the graphic thoughts and images that are produced from this very historic even in history. The Holocaust was a very central reason in why the United Nations and the conventions following the event were created in the first place. As clear as the title states, “Genocide”, the movie is brutally honest on the fact that genocide is a clear violation of human rights. This movie was a very good choice to watch during the section on the Holocaust and human right violations. It allows us to see the destruction of Hitler and the Nazi regime and the community of Jews and depicts the events during the Holocaust in which millions of Jewish people as well as Gypsies, Homosexuals and Political opponents were killed. “Genocide” allows the viewer to see that the people who were discriminated against were people just like everyone else. It drags us through the gruesome details of what became of people one taken from their homes, the understanding that many just stood by and let it happen and finally when countries began to fight back to stop the horrendous event.

There is never anything good about genocide but I can’t say as much for the movie “Genocide”. I thought this movie was very educational and the message was expressed very well throughout the whole movie. Even though I’ve studied the Holocaust in school, it was still really difficult to see the pictures and hear about what happened to the Jews and the millions of other people sentenced to death due to their race, sexual orientation, and political thought. I thought this movie was well laid out in how they were able to show the daily lives and living areas of a normal person and then to show how Hitler’s conquering thought and ruling destroyed millions of lives.

The quote at the beginning is an underlying message that is prevalent throughout the movie. This message is for the world to understand that genocide can happen again and we must work to make sure that we stop it throughout the world. I think another part of that message is that the world does not want to see another atrocity as large scale as this to happen again. Watching the movie, we were able to see how normal people and daily lives can be thrown into turmoil. We saw the destruction and devastation the thought that one race was superior to the other. These are very important messages to have the future generations learn. The more we education on the destruction and repercussions that genocide can have on the world, a nation, a group of people, and an individual, the easier it is to see that it is wrong.

On a larger scale, the Holocaust is so important to the beginning of the thought of universal human rights and the violations of these rights. The Holocaust was such a significant shock to the whole world that the world had to come together to discuss human rights. After WWII, the United Nations was created as well as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). The aftermath of the creation on the UN and the UDHR led to creation multiple conventions and meetings regarding human rights violations to further define and condemn the act of crimes against humanity, the violation of human rights. These conventions are created to protect groups of people and individuals who tend to have their rights suppressed and violated. The Holocaust helped bring this up because of the direct attacks on specific groups of people (Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals). People's rights need to be protected both from and by the government. The world needs to realize that everyone has rights and that hindering them from their full potential is destructive to human rights.