Diamonds Of The Night Analysis
A Film Unfinished, The Last Stage, and Diamonds of the Night are all films that deal in some way with the Holocaust. However, the perspective and director’s intentions are so unique for each. A Film Unfinished was able to pick apart the lies of a Nazi propaganda film by including Holocaust survivors’ reaction to the film, as well as journals and interviews of people directly involved with the propaganda footage. The Last Stage is authentic because real Holocaust survivors were recruited to act in the film, but the experiences of people in the camp were overshadowed by the pushing of Communist ideals onto the audience. Diamonds of the Night represented what Jewish people had to experience by following the escape of two boys and their hardships,
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The importance of this film is undeniable. It brings up an interesting point that writer Elizabeth Cowie hints at in her chapter in a book titled, “Holocaust and the Moving Image”. She states, “While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph” (2). Essentially, Cowie explains the importance of knowing the intention of the photographer. Photographers have the power to cut people out or show only one side of the story in history. A Film Unfinished analyzes a tape that was found labeled “The Ghetto”. It shows Jews buying food, houses decorated with flowers, and funerals with people buried in coffins. Hersonski, though, was able to detect that something was not right. As he analyzed the film, Hersonski noticed Nazis who looked like they were directing the Jews, as well as a cameraman comfortably taking pictures. These strange events compounded with survivors mocking the film with disbelief helped Hersonski make his case against the fraudulent tape. Furthermore, he did a good job contrasting what really happened in the Holocaust to what the Nazi propaganda tape displayed. He did this by showing a few minutes of the propaganda tape and then having a reenacted interview with cameraman Willy Wist, who disclosed that he was ordered to film staged Jewish people. Other evidence was interchanged with Willy Wist’s interview, such as journals from Adam Czerniakow, head of the Warsaw ghetto’s Judenrat, and survivors’
The importance of this film is undeniable. It brings up an interesting point that writer Elizabeth Cowie hints at in her chapter in a book titled, “Holocaust and the Moving Image”. She states, “While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph” (2). Essentially, Cowie explains the importance of knowing the intention of the photographer. Photographers have the power to cut people out or show only one side of the story in history. A Film Unfinished analyzes a tape that was found labeled “The Ghetto”. It shows Jews buying food, houses decorated with flowers, and funerals with people buried in coffins. Hersonski, though, was able to detect that something was not right. As he analyzed the film, Hersonski noticed Nazis who looked like they were directing the Jews, as well as a cameraman comfortably taking pictures. These strange events compounded with survivors mocking the film with disbelief helped Hersonski make his case against the fraudulent tape. Furthermore, he did a good job contrasting what really happened in the Holocaust to what the Nazi propaganda tape displayed. He did this by showing a few minutes of the propaganda tape and then having a reenacted interview with cameraman Willy Wist, who disclosed that he was ordered to film staged Jewish people. Other evidence was interchanged with Willy Wist’s interview, such as journals from Adam Czerniakow, head of the Warsaw ghetto’s Judenrat, and survivors’