A Film Unfinished

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A Film Unfinished

2010

1h 29m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

98%

Tomatometer

65 Reviews

86%

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1,000+ Ratings

Israeli director Yael Hersonski examines a recently found film reel from an unfinished Nazi movie entitled "Das Ghetto" in this award-winning documentary. For decades, historians have relied on "Das Ghetto" as a portrayal of life in occupied Warsaw and this new footage provides rare insights into one of the biggest propaganda machines of all time. Hersonski uses personal journals and accounts as well as an interview with a surviving cameraman to re-examine this dark cinematic relic.

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Critics Consensus

A heartbreaking, haunting historical document, A Film Unfinished excavates particularly horrible chapter of Holocaust history, and in doing so, the film provides a glimpse into the Nazi propaganda machine.

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Chris Chang

Film Comment Magazine

a new and uniquely disturbing perspective on the Shoah

Nov 13, 2013

Full Review

Cliff Doerksen

Chicago Reader

Filmmaker Yael Hersonski reshapes the impossibly vile and tragic source material into a devastating record of Nazi criminality.

Jan 4, 2011

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Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

It's impossible to watch A Film Unfinished and not feel haunted by the restless ghosts of history and those who tried -- and failed -- to use film to tell a lie.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 3, 2010

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

A Film Unfinished bears witness to a horrifying spectacle but you have to see it to be convinced of the inconceivable limits to which hatred can lead when it ferments into fanaticism. [Full review in Spanish]

Oct 6, 2022

Full Review

Felicia Feaster

Charleston City Paper

A Film Unfinished is an otherwise necessary deepening of our understanding of the Holocaust and an illustration of the power of film, which can elucidate reality or shroud it in layers of deception and prejudice.

Jan 22, 2020

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Ian Buruma

The New York Review of Books

The impact of A Film Unfinished is surely sufficient proof that, even in our media-saturated age, filmed images can still move our feelings, if not necessarily create a better world.

Nov 5, 2018

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Audience Member

Netflix still has the dvd rentals and it (and the Romeo Public Library) have an incredible library of dvd. This heart breaking, disturbing movie is made from a Nazi film of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 before it shuttered and the Poles & Germans Jews were sent to be killed. It was to be propaganda piece showing that life for the Jews in the Ghetto was just fine. It was never used or released and was found a few years ago and released with interviews of some survivors shown watching the movie. Very very tough going.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

An incredible film, this historical account of the Warsaw Jewish ghetto in 1942 really stark in contrast to many of the portrayals I've l seen before. Disturbing recollections of ghetto residents and one of the cameramen add context to the visuals. I appreciate the efforts of the resident diary keepers and historians whose words survived to dispel the attempted efforts of the nazi propaganda machine.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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Audience Member

The footages of unfinished Nazi propaganda made into a documentary about the horrifying life of Jews in Warsaw Ghetto.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Audience Member

The Germans filmed this as propaganda against the Jews, but it has become a heartbreaking and haunting historical document in Holocaust history. I found it difficult to watch at times.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Just terrible what happened. Hope lessons can be learned, Pure evil.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

La mas cruel y estremecedora muestra de la propaganda Nazi, con imagenes nunca antes vista de la vida en los guetos que muestra hasta donde era capaz de llegar el regimen Nazi con tal de crear la mas grande mentira de la historia mundial.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

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Yael Hersonski

Director

Yael Hersonski

Screenwriter

Itai Ken-Tor

Producer

Noemi Schory

Producer

Joel Alexis

Film Editing

Itai Ne'eman

Cinematographer

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Synopsis

Israeli director Yael Hersonski examines a recently found film reel from an unfinished Nazi movie entitled "Das Ghetto" in this award-winning documentary. For decades, historians have relied on "Das Ghetto" as a portrayal of life in occupied Warsaw and this new footage provides rare insights into one of the biggest propaganda machines of all time. Hersonski uses personal journals and accounts as well as an interview with a surviving cameraman to re-examine this dark cinematic relic.

Director: Yael Hersonski
Producer: Itai Ken-Tor, Noemi Schory
Screenwriter: Yael Hersonski
Distributor: Oscilloscope Pictures
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 18, 2010, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Aug 20, 2010
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 24, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $311.5K
Runtime: 1h 29m

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