Review of Shoah (1985) by Barry N — 18 Mar 2011

This film is an extraordinary documentary on the horrors of the Holocaust. Here is the astonishing feat, it creates a sense of terror and sadness with using no archival footage, period. It relies just on the words of survivors, ex-Nazi soldiers and witnesses, and their words strike terror into our heart and sorrow in our soul.

This film single-handedly did the impossible and almost made me cry (so far only 2 films have ever done it, and this film got the closest). This film is absolutely astonishing and is a fantastic feat in films.

If the film does have one flaw it's that the film is too powerful. This film is so powerful that it's nearly impossible to absorb the film all at once. You have to take it piece by piece to be abundantly absorbed by the film.

There is not a film that comes to my mind that is more important than this. You have to have the patience because this is a 9 and a half hour long film, but if you're willing to go with it, you're going to find yourself immersed by this unbelievably astounding piece of cinema.