Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Secret

France   d/Claude Miller

Another in the seemingly endless series of films from France dealing with the Occupation and the mistreatment of Jews. It's hard to be critical about this film since, except for the unfortunate rapid-fire editing technique which plagues so many modern films, the story was beautifully structured, acted, composed. And, except for some brief newsreel clips there were no jack-booted Nazi thugs. The focus was entirely on the personal dynamics of a Jewish family confronted with monsters both within and outside of themselves.

But I've been reading about and watching this story for fifty years now, ever since the first memoirs began being published in the 50's. I saw Night and Fog in college. There's nothing a writer or a filmmaker can say to me that I haven't mulled over too many times. These were the lower reaches of inhumanity. I got it. Enough.

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