Shoah

Claude Lanzmann's 9 1/2 hour documentary on the Holocaust is primarily a mixture of interviews intercut with contemporary footage of the death camp sites. It can best be described as relentless. In this production, you won't find vintage newsreel scenes of liberated inmates or Hitler making speeches; nor is there any thematic sound track music. Lanzmann doesn't need manipulative techniques to reach his viewers. The impact of Shoah comes not only from the revelations of survivors and perpetrators, but also from the disclosures of average, reasonable men in the business of drafting architectural plans for death factories, or setting up the Auschwitz train schedules... The lack of the usual technical and editorial conventions associated with film may limit the audience for this production. It still remains an important historical record, and belongs in most collections. (Elliott Swanson, Kitsap Regional Library, Bremerton, WA).[DVD/Blu-ray Review—July 2, 2013—Criterion, 566 min., in French, Italian, Polish, German, English, Hebrew & Yiddish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: 6 discs, $99.95; Blu-ray: 3 discs, $99.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and first on Blu-ray, 1985's Shoah sports an excellent transfer and Dolby Digital mono audio on DVD and uncompressed mono on Blu-ray. Extras include director Claude Lanzmann's 2001 documentary Sobibór, October 14, 1943, 4. p.m. (102 min.), Lanzmann's 1999 doc A Visitor from the Living (68 min.), a new conversation between Lanzmann and critic Serge Toubiana (61 min.), the 2010 TV-aired doc The Karski Report by Lanzmann with WWII resistance fighter turned Georgetown professor Jan Karski (49 min.), a new interview with assistant cameraperson Caroline Champetier and filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin (33 min.), a 2003 interview with Lanzmann on Sobibór and A Visitor (14 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and writings by Lanzmann. Bottom line: a landmark documentary makes a welcome debut on high-def.]