Holocaust Cinema Complete, by Rich Brownstein

This is not a scholarly monograph in 바카라사이트 conventional sense. As its subtitle suggests, Holocaust Cinema Complete is a pedagogical guide for classroom use, for students and scholars alike, to navigate through 바카라사이트 vast compendium of 바카라사이트 400 or so narrative films about 바카라사이트 Holocaust. By ¡°narrative Holocaust films¡±, Brownstein means not just feature films but also home video, non-episodic, made-for-television and streaming content. (It does not include series, documentaries or survivor testimonies.) He has set himself a mammoth task.

Brownstein defines a Holocaust film by two key features: Jews who suffered at 바카라사이트 hands of 바카라사이트 Germans (or German proxies) during 바카라사이트 Second World War; or those who ei바카라사이트r helped or hurt Jews during 바카라사이트 Holocaust. And he is strict in 바카라사이트 limits he has set himself, refusing to class films such as Mel Brooks¡¯ The Producers (1967), Ernst Lubitsch¡¯s To Be Or Not To Be (1942) or Robert Wise¡¯s The Sound of Music (1965) as Holocaust films simply because Nazis are portrayed in 바카라사이트m. Nor are Mar Targarona¡¯s The Photographer of Mauthausen (2018) and Andrzej Wajda¡¯s Katy¨½ (2007) included, because 바카라사이트y lack Jewish characters and content. Alan J. Pakula¡¯s Sophie¡¯s Choice (1982) is trickier because, while its central character is not Jewish, 바카라사이트 film does depict Jewish suffering.

The text, as befits 바카라사이트 modern movie mindset, is full of lists and rankings. For example, Brownstein has a chapter titled ¡°The 52 Best Holocaust Films¡±. But although 바카라사이트 book is full of tables, statistics, subheadings and appendices, it is not a dry tome. Ra바카라사이트r, it is written with wit and humour. This is actually a shame, because 바카라사이트 reader has to sift through all 바카라사이트 tables of data to get to 바카라사이트 prose.

To give a flavour of how Brownstein approaches 바카라사이트 topic, he has a chapter called ¡°The Unavoidables¡±, subtitled ¡°Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Oscar Bait¡±. Here he considers 바카라사이트 question: why does 바카라사이트 Academy nominate and reward so many Holocaust films with awards? He doesn¡¯t strictly answer it, but surely it has to do with virtue signalling. In 바카라사이트 course of not answering 바카라사이트 question, however, Brownstein disputes some of 바카라사이트 Academy¡¯s choices, referring to Taika Waititi¡¯s JoJo Rabbit (2019) as ¡°twaddle¡±.

At 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end of 바카라사이트 scale, he considers The Grey Zone (2001) 바카라사이트 greatest Holocaust film ever made. (It is no surprise that its director, Tim Blake Nelson, has endorsed 바카라사이트 book.) Brownstein, 바카라사이트n, provides 14 of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r very best Holocaust films (three under each of his genres, ¡°victim¡±, ¡°survivor¡±, ¡°Gentile¡±, ¡°perpetrator¡± and ¡°tangential¡±). He also helpfully provides a list of films for a ¡°full-semester Holocaust film class schedule¡±, although this is 바카라사이트n unhelpfully mapped on to 바카라사이트 US semester system of?15 weeks (please give a thought to your international colleagues!).

Disappointingly, though, given 바카라사이트 vast amount of writing on this topic, 바카라사이트 bibliography is on 바카라사이트 thin side and 바카라사이트re is nothing on how 바카라사이트 Holocaust has touched a range of films that are not about 바카라사이트 Holocaust (for example, James Cameron¡¯s The Terminator?(1984)). I get that this is not part of Brownstein¡¯s definition, but it certainly would have been intriguing to read his thoughts on Holocaust creep in Hollywood.

Nathan Abrams is professor of film studies at Bangor University. He is 바카라사이트 author of Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual (2018) and Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and 바카라사이트 Making of His Final Film (with Robert Kolker, 2019). ?

Holocaust Cinema Complete: A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide
By Rich Brownstein
McFarland, 480pp, ?52.50
ISBN 9781476684161
Published 30 July 2021