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In the interviews, family and friends tell stories about "ordinary" Germans who risked their lives and their families to help their Jewish friends. The central questions of the documentary are asked by asking the interviewees what they would have done if they were in their German friends' places.
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are deeply troubled by guilt that is not theirs. In one scene, a middle-aged man remembers his father with disgust after he was released from a concentration camp and emigrated to New York City. His father had developed an utter fear of authority. It was only later that the man realized his
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Kirchheimer, whose perspective in the film is that survival is not an end in itself, is disturbed by some of the answers he receives. For example, two elderly Jewish women who had escaped Nazi
Germany before 1939, expressed their revulsion at the more recent immigration of
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wrote "there will be a need for films like
Manfred Kirchheimer's". However, Jordan Hiller expressed his doubts by asking "Must we celebrate every decent Holocaust film as a success even if it adds nothing new to the genre?" David Denby writing for
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magazine dissents from praising the documentary and with regard to the two central questions of the film he says "I know that
Kirchheimer is trying to escape complacency and tribal chauvinism, but his questions strike me as inane."
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For example, Kirchheimer, asks his father what he would have done. His father's reply is that he would not have helped if the tables were turned. He explains by saying "By nature, I'm a coward".
164:: Is survival an end in itself? Do survivors carry the burden of responsibilities? To address these questions, Kirchheimer interviews family and friends who were able to escape
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The film consists of more than just interviews. Interspersed with the interviews are still pictures of the interviewees and quotes written and spoken that are taken from
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Some reviewers found the documentary to be an important addition to other documentaries concerned with The
Holocaust. Kevin Thomas writing for the
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before 1939. Kirchheimer himself escaped with his family in 1936 at the age of 5. Those interviewed for the film settled in
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Drescher, Ruth
Lieberman (1989). "We Were So Beloved: The German Jews of Washington Heights by Manfred Kirchheimer".
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was bewildered when at age 14, his parents were not outraged when a New York City police officer beat a black man.
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to remind the viewer of the evil that had preceded. The film received mixed reviews.
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Reviewers saw the film as addressing two central questions in the aftermath of the
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father's strength in surviving the horrors he had faced. In another interview,
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Roots, Rocks and (seder) Rolls: A Self Study of
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372:"Movie Review : Poignant Look-back At Holocaust In 'Beloved'"
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Manfred
Kirchheimer, James Callanan, Steven Giuliano, Walter Hess
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people. In another scene, Louis Kampf, a professor at the
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to remind the viewer of the evil that had happened.
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457:Denby, David (22 September 1986).
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237:Sorrow and the Pity
132:Manfred Kirchheimer
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103:Running time
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107:145 minutes
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189:Mein Kampf
149:Mein Kampf
138:living in
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16:1985 film
208:Holocaust
162:Holocaust
136:Holocaust
62:Edited by
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436:Archived
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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