Auschwitz

2013 • 74 minutes

About this movie

With Auschwitz, controversial director Uwe Boll depicts the harsh reality of the process inside one of the most infamous Nazi death camps by using brutally realistic imagery. By shining a light on a small corner of the holocaust, Boll effectively shows us just how depraved and sadistic life in the camps could be - and how short. Auschwitz is not for the faint of heart. Boll combines documentary footage and interviews with a fictional narrative in an attempt to understand the horrors that were visited on the victims of the Nazis. Auschwitz explores humankind's capacity for evil and examines our understanding of one of the bleakest periods of our history.

Ratings and reviews

It is funny that I stumbled across this movie, because I am from America, and recently traveled from Munich, Germany to Cologne, Germany to get information on an editorial piece that I was working on. The topic was "How educated on the so-called 'Hitler Years' is the German youth today?" This movie hit it spot on. I am a World War 2 historian and have been intently studying the National Socialist regime for about 12 years now, and have written a few short books and a few editorials on the subject for various magazines, When asked questions at first, the typical German would almost shy away from answering, due to my instantly noticeable American accent, but when we get to further talking, it is a part of history that is basically forgotten. Many people, as in this movie, would have facts wrong or twisted, or just gave you blank stare. I can understand why this part of history would want to be forgotten in Germany, but remember the old saying "When history is forgotten, it is bound to repeat itself." This film depicts a typical day-in-the-life of an SS Guard/Jew at Auschwitz. They even had the Sonderkommand. This film puts you there. Not for the faint of heart, but for the historian.

Call me picky, but I didn't think the depiction of Auschwitz was that accurate for the following reasons: 1. Jews were selected for work or for death at the ramp, not outside the gas chambers. 2. The gas chambers were much more elaborate than the shacks depicted in the film. 3. The chambers themselves were filled to the brim; upwards of 1500 people. Not 20-25 as the film illustrates. 4. The film underestimates the level of deceit that was performed to get victims to cooperate. Members of the Sonderkommando convinced the masses that they were about to shower, not the SS. This is not the worst attempt at a holocaust film that I've ever seen, but as an intellectual on the subject, I was a little disappointed (I recommend 'the Grey Zone'). I was however surprised at how many German children didn't really know what had happened, how many people were killed in the process and why. Education on this subject is a MUST. We cannot allow our youth to breeze through this subject or the world is doomed to repeat it.

Not a documentary per se and not a movie exactly. Seemed like it was rushed and very little (no) introduction to where we arrive in the film in relation to the dark timeline and history of Auschwitz. This could really have been a jolting and a much better awareness film. I applaud the effort and commend the director for his intentions for making it, its just not a great piece.