Film Critique of "Genocide"

Throughout my whole journey as an American student I have been taught a lot about the Holocaust. I have been told lots of facts statistics, and most of all, how America “saved” the victims in the concentration camps. This movie, along with our discussions in class, have put a different perspective upon what the Holocaust really was. The film “Genocide” captures the emotional journey of the Jewish people through stories, photographs, and other captivating and horrifying depictions of the Holocaust.

I thought this was a great addition to the films and documentaries required for class. It withheld my attention the whole way through, and I was able to easily relate to it with the discussions in class, and Gilbert Michlin’s presentation. My favorite part of the film were the letters, which were actually witten during the Holocaust, that were read aloud for a large portion of the film. “Genocide” made me feel personally attached to those victims who went through such torturous things at these concentration camps. Also, after going to the Shoah Memorial in Paris, this was a really great way to tie everything together. I would recommend this film as an educational piece to learn about the Holocaust.

The Holocaust is an obvious violaton of human rights, on many levels. Before the treacheries of this event, the UDHR, defending the basic human rights of citizens of a nation, had not been created. Initiating the creation of the UDHR was the president of the United States. Although America may be glorified in “ending” the Holocaust, and bringing peace back into Europe, I feel as though that is hardly the case. The Holocaust was known to the United States long before action was done. This, I think, is a very large human rights violation in itself. As I said in my last film review, when it comes to the human right to life, there should be no other issue other than higher powers and states protecting that right. Although I would like to say that genocides have stopped, or the declarations and covenants that have come into order to prevent these happenings have helped, it still occurs today, with little or no state action.