“Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust” is a documentary by Daniel Anker. Narrated by Gene Hackman.

The nomination of “The Reader” for Best Picture brought again to the forefront an issue that has now long challenged filmmakers: how to tackle a subject that for many people is still un-filmable. How should Hollywood, or artists in general, tackle the Holocaust, that moment in world history generally viewed as humanity at its worst? Should the subject even be addressed at all?

This well done, gripping documentary traces how Hollywood has handled this enormous subject from the 1930s, when rumors of Nazi atrocities first started to spread, up until the 2000s. It interweaves documentary footage with clips from over 40 studio films about the subject and documents how portrayals of the Holocaust have evolved over the past 60 years.

Perhaps the most fascinating section of the film is at the beginning, regarding how Hollywood chose to (or perhaps better yet, chose not to) deal with the subject. This section serves as a rather blunt history lesson on America in the 1930s, when racism and anti-Semitism were still culturally acceptable, if perhaps not the norm (there was a strong pro-German, pro-Nazi movement, called the “Bund” in the US at this time). Even when the Nazi threat was becoming more and more apparent, it must be remembered that the majority of Americans wanted the US to stay out of “Europe’s war.”

Furthermore, Hollywood did want to lose a prime overseas cash cow (Germany in the 1930s accounted for roughly 10% of Hollywood’s overseas market). Thus, most films from Hollywood chose not to address the subject and even those who did, such as “The Mortal Storm” tread lightly and did not address the issue of anti-Semitism directly (the word “Jew” was not said in the film, for instance). It took one of Hollywood’s greatest and most daring filmmakers, [[Charlie Chaplin]], to directly address Nazi anti-Semitism with his masterpiece “[[The Great Dictator]].”

However, during the war, many of Hollywood’s best directors (legends [[George Stevens]] and [[John Huston]] among them) served the Army as war correspondents. Many were on hand to record the moment when the death camps were liberated. Stevens, for example, captured for the world the horrors of Buchenwald. Later, Eisenhower personally flew the heads of the major studios to Europe so they could see first hand the horror that the Nazis tried to hide. This sobering ordeal made many of the studio heads (particularly [[Jack Warner]]) determined to use their art form to address the subject directly.

From there, the film follows how Hollywood’s willingness to deal with the subject matter has shifted over the past 60 years, from serious major studio films about anti-Semitism in the late 1940s (most notably “Crossfire” and 1947 Best Picture winner “Gentleman’s Agreement”) to a cooling off period in the 1950s (most likely due to Joe McCarthy’s infamous HUAC comities, which had a barely hidden streak of anti-Semitism in them) through landmark films on the subject, such as “[[Judgment at Nuremburg]],” “[[The Pawnbroker]],” “[[Cabaret]],” “[[The Pianist]]” and of course “[[Schindler’s List]].”

While the “Schindler’s List” section is involving (and it addresses head on the primary criticism of the film, namely that the Jews are secondary characters while a Nazi party member is indeed the hero of the film [I could write my passionate defense for Spielberg regarding this issue, but I digress]), the film makes the wise choice of devoting time to the somewhat underappreciated “[[Sophie’s Choice]]” as well. The revelation of her “choice” is one of the most gut wrenching, emotionally shattering scenes ever filmed and though blood free, captures the depths of Nazi cruelty almost perfectly.

Though obviously hard to watch at times, “Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust” is an impressive and thorough account of how Hollywood has handled one of the darkest but perhaps most important events in human history. Though not always successful, it does show that the film industry has done its part to make sure the Holocaust is never forgotten.

Extras:
None (none needed, really).