I liked this film. It’s disturbing in a very intentional yet unconventional way. So, normally, I don’t like gratuitous violence or disturbing imagery if it’s not in service to a bigger thought provoking point. This film wasn’t “spoiler” visually violent. Far from it. Rather, the horrific treatment of the victims of the Holocaust is portrayed through the complete cognitive dissonance and justification of those horrors from the perpetrators of the violence in the film. This was achieved primarily by the audio of the film in a way I can honestly say I’ve never quite experienced. In one scene, planks being laid onto a greenhouse are interpersed with the sound of gunfire, the thuds of both so intermingled they’re indistinguishable. It’s normalized.
Some reviewers who have panned this film have complained that the main characters are never fleshed out. We never really get a plot or learn their motivations. But to me it was pretty obvious that this wasn’t an oversight on the filmmakers part and rather a choice. This film, more than any other I’ve ever seen about WWII, captured the true banality of evil required by a nation to carry out such a large scale of destruction. And without mencing words, the unsaid inescapable point being made is that a nation of the descendants of the victims in the film is now crafting its own justification while perpetrating great harm on another group.
Hard stuff to swallow for some, but executed pretty brilliantly.