hringel Reviews

Denial (II) (2016)

Treat This Film as a Film

[6/10 · 26 June 2017]

Denial may not be the best Holocaust-related movie ever made, but to use its limitations as a platform to affirm Holocaust denial is far more wrong-headed. The millions of victims and survivors of the Holocaust – as well as the Allied troops that witnessed first-hand the horrors that had occurred when they marched into the camps, the Nuremberg trials tribunal (with actual filmed records used as evidence), and countless other voices – require no "proof" of this atrocity. It was murder, plain and simple, and whether on a mass or individual level, the victims of such (or any) crime must be served and punishment brought to the perpetrators. Thankfully, the Nazi regime of wartime Germany is in the past while those who have opposed it thrive on in the present. More than a dozen European countries (including Germany) have laws deeming Holocaust denial as illegal. Current German criminal law also bans "incitement to hatred" against any particular group within the population. Deniers of the Holocaust can shout as loudly as they want. It won't change the truth.

I too found Denial to be disappointing, for various reasons also cited. Elements in its acting and script struck me as possessing an overstated obviousness that worked against the effectiveness of the film. But the focus of these reviews should be the film, not the history. As another IMDb reviewer states, some of the negative reviews are politically motivated. These few are trying to denigrate not just the film but also its message. Thank goodness the majority of other reviewers think otherwise and treat the film fairly – as a film.

Nowhere to Go (1958)

A Real Find

[8/10 · 25 June 2017]

I watched TCM's 87-minute broadcast of this film from June 2017. What a find! Script-wise, it continually zigs when the viewer expects it to zag. The cinematography is a mix of elements to love -- noir shadings, in-depth focus, unusual but always pertinent camera angles. And I suppose that in the context of films like Scream of Fear and The Nanny, the sober and somewhat cynical auteur side of Seth Holt comes through. George Nader pretty much carries the acting chores and does fine at it. It's a shame he never seemed to break through to the big time. I remember him, of course, in Robot Monster, also in a TV show called Man and the Challenge. Maggie Smith, in her film debut, is anything but a sexy ingenue. Her part is scripted to carry her character in an entirely opposite direction; her large eyes and muted attractiveness do add to the effectiveness of her performance. An uncut, Region 2 DVD adding 13 minutes to the film is available through Amazon UK. I would imagine that the extra footage serves to amplify the evolution of Nader's character -- this, not the suspense (though it is suspenseful), struck me as the focus of this unjustly neglected film. Give it a try!