Homo Sapiens 1900

The innocuous title in no way prepares the viewer for Peter Cohen's bone-chilling, gut-wrenching documentary survey of the history of eugenics--a.k.a. race hygiene--in the 20th century. The theory and practice of man's efforts to "improve himself through biological means," eugenics gained an immense following in Germany and Russia and, to a slightly lesser extent, Sweden and the United States, in the early decades of this century. Always with the ideal goal of 'the improvement of the human species,' eugenics quickly divided into two opposing camps, Mendelism and Lamarckism. Mendelism advocated the idea of "positive eugenics" (selective breeding among superior specimens in order to avoid or eliminate inferior traits), while Lamarckism held the belief that acquired characteristics are inheritable. Eugenics reached its nadir during the Nazi "Vernichtung," but this film is not about the Nazi atrocities so much as it is about the atrocities practiced--and condoned--by man against man in some of the most sophisticated countries in the Western world during the first half of this century. Filled to overflowing with names, dates, places, theories, practices, ideas, social movements, and scientific "data" and jargon--all illustrated with archival footage, photographs, and other source documents--this film simply defies description. Midway through its progressively depressing 1½ hour content, the viewer begins to wrestle with the question: is this just a huge, frightening history lesson, or is there a larger point here? That point becomes clear only in the final 10 minutes when the program asks: how long will it take before modern genetic and biological studies lead us down this well-trodden path, in which man once again seeks to "improve himself through biological means." A monumental, astonishing survey/warning, this is highly recommended for high school (with careful guidance) audiences and up. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (M. Rechel)