A Film Unfinished
Disturbing Images
To be honest, “A Film Unfinished” was more disturbing at age forty five, than the television mini-series, “Holocaust” was at the age of 12. I very distinctly remember having watched it when it was released on television because it was how I first learned of the atrocities that Hitler had committed during his short reign with the Third Reich and thought at the time how disturbing it was. After having watched this film at my current age I only now realize how truly devastating and atrocious the acts that Hitler was guilty of were more than criminal, it was the methodic attempt to exterminate an entire group of people based solely on their religious preference. In a way it really opened my eyes to the fact that we here in the United States had basically tried the same thing except we tried to enslave an entire group of people based solely on the color of their skin.
I really hate when people say that Hitler tried to wipe out an entire race of people, because truly we are all only one race, and that is the human race. However if we had to break it down, there are maybe different breeds of humans just as there are different breeds of any animal, but I digress. It seemed that Hitler was attempting to pit Jew against Jew on the streets of Warsaw. His attempt to depict Jews having a wonderful time amidst the filth and poverty, was at best futile. The faces of the people being filmed were anything but the faces of those that are happy and well adjusted. One could see the pain and anguish on the faces of those both in the actual filming done in Warsaw, not to mention that of those who were watching the original film on the film. Those were the faces that disturb me the most. They lived that madness and destruction. They barely escaped with their lives, if not their families since so many people were lost in those despicable acts which were ordered by a psychopath.
I have always been disgusted and appalled whenever I hear Hitler’s name spoken or referred to in conversation. I don’t think he is worthy of the attention given. However that is a flaw of the human race, to glorify the macabre, study it, and attempt not to repeat it. However we always truly fail at the attempts not to repeat. Like now, America is Hitler and we are slowly but surely trying to exterminate any non-Christian based faith. Every war in history basically has been based on the spread and/or destruction of one religion or another. We are still fighting the “War of Faith,” and it is a true World War. Hitler was only a symptom of the illness of society that has manifested as hatred of others based on superficial reasons. The question is: What do we learn from the images.
We study the holocaust to learn from it and hopefully not to repeat it, but in history we as "A Free Nation" should have helped more people than what we had.
ReplyDeleteThe faces of the surviors were very haunting to me as well, I cannot imagine growing up in those conditions like that woman did and having such responsibilities at a young age.
ReplyDeleteHow could someone video tape ppl half dead laying on the ground.. i dont dont have the heart to do that to somebody
ReplyDeleteNot only did we enslave a race we murdered the greater part of another. What we did to the Native Americans ia along the same lines
ReplyDeleteHumans are good at destroying what we hold dear... Just not to people we think are the same. Think about it: The native Americans, the Irish, the Jews, the people in Rwanda, or in China under Mao, or even now between Israel and Siria... Humans constantly want what they think is theirs and though we are all the same, we will kill and die to support our ill-gotten beliefs
ReplyDeleteHitler truely did these people a great injustice.
ReplyDeleteI do truly agree Devan, our society has raped and pillaged others in our attempt to live the "Manifest Destiny" that our forefathers imbedded in the workings of this country. The country was founded by stealing the land and killing any group of people that got in the way. But we don't pursue anyone here as a war criminal from the 1800's, we worship them and praise them in American History classes.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why its anyone elses business what other people believe in, but your right about wars being about religion. People need to learn that different doesnt = bad, and why does it matter what someone else believes in as long as they aren't trying to force their beliefs on other people it shouldn't matter.
ReplyDeleteYour response is excellently written! Great flow of the events of what happened, and I appreciate the end challenge question. We learn that... well thiings have not much changed. (as explained in the previous responses)
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