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The Last of the Unjust

PG-13 2013 3h 38m Documentary List
96% Tomatometer 47 Reviews 79% Audience Score 500+ Ratings
Benjamin Murmelstein, the only Jewish elder to survive World War II, fought with Adolf Eichmann week after week for seven years and managed to help more than 120,000 Jews leave Germany. Read More Read Less
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The Last of the Unjust

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Critics Consensus

Documentarian Claude Lanzmann brings the ghosts of the Holocaust back to vivid life once again The Last of the Unjust, a dense and haunting investigation into complicity and moral quandary.

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Critics Reviews

View All (47) Critics Reviews
J. Hoberman Tablet The best one can say for this troubling, if intermittently fascinating, mess is that it succeeds in raising questions, moral as well as aesthetic, that it cannot answer. Dec 31, 2015 Full Review Mark Kermode Observer (UK) Each viewer will judge its truth for themselves, but the director's compassionately unsentimental acceptance is clear and profound. Rated: 4/5 Jan 11, 2015 Full Review Geoffrey Macnab Independent (UK) This is a complex and very moving documentary. Rated: 4/5 Jan 9, 2015 Full Review D.W. Mault CineVue The running time (like all Lanzmann's films) is not oppressive but allows for Murmelstein and his interlocutor to talk through, around and inside the context and reality of pragmatism, egoism, heroism and evil. Rated: 5/5 Apr 4, 2019 Full Review Daniel Kasman MUBI Claude Lanzmann has created a new film whose heart is the interview footage shot for his monumental "Shoah" project of Austrian Benjamin Murmelstein, the so-called last of the Jewish Elders, those nominally in charge of the Nazis' Jewish ghettos. Nov 16, 2017 Full Review Christoph Huber Cinema Scope The Last of the Unjust breaks with the rigorous approach its director previously employed to find a just way to talk about the Nazis' mass murder of the Jews with film. Oct 2, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (8) audience reviews
Audience Member cinegeek.de Claude Lanzmanns Shoah Projekt umfasst mittlerweile 200 Stunden Filmmaterial - ein Lebenswerk! Seit den 70ern trägt er Dokumente über das grösste Verbrechen der Menschheit, Ausschwitz, zusammen. Sie markieren den Beginn der modernen Holocaust Forschung. Hier geht es um die Frage der Verstrickung der jüdischen Offiziellen. Im Mittelpunkt des vierstündigen Films steht der Wiener Rabbi Benjamin Murmelstein. Er war der einzige überlebende "Judenälteste" von Theresienstadt und half Adolf Eichmann bei der Deportation von 120.000 Juden. Murmelstein setzte nach dem Krieg keinen Fuss auf israelischen Boden, aus Angst vor einem Prozess. Während der 70er machte Lanzmann Murmelstein in Rom ausfindig und überredete ihn zu einer Anzahl von interviews für sein Shoah Projekt. Murmelstein erweist sich aber als brillanter Denker und grosser Charmeur. Er argumentiert, er habe sich mit dem Feind eingelassen, um Juden vor der Gaskammer zu bewahren. Eine Skepsis an Murmelsteins Unschuld ist angebracht - und auch Lanzmann hat Jahrzehnte gebraucht, um das Material nun doch zu veröffnetlichen (wofür er sogar von seinem Prinzip abwich, keine Archiv-Aufnahmen zu benutzen, da die notgedrungen aus den Archiven des Feindes stammen). Der Tod von Millionen von Juden - wie könnten da keine moralischen Widersprüche übrig bleiben? Murmelstein erklärt, die Menschen in Theresienstadt wären keine Heiligen gewesen, sondern Märtyrer. Nicht alle Märtyrer aber, seien zwangsläufig Heilige. - Dazu gibts unsere Film List der grössten klassischen Dokus auf cinegeek.de Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This documentary makes you think how the people in WW2 used to survive. It brings many questions, doubts and mixed feelings about everyone in the story. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Very interesting -- the interviews connected with today's images of Theresienstadt and some of the artistic renderings show clearly how this "model" ghetto was anything but. It also gives a different view of Eichmann and therefore a more sinister view of the banality of evil, and Murmelstein is a fascinating interviewee. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a long film but Benjamin Murmelstein is eloquent and great company to spend time with. It is definitely presented as how the introduction set out which lacks subtlety and ambiguity. Worth pursuing by breaking it down into multiple sittings. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member The interviews with Benjamin Murmelstein are fascinating. The readings by Claude Lanzmann, shot in pertinent locations, less so. The cinematography stumbles (metaphorically) in attempting to replicate the long advancing and retreating tracking shots that dominated the look of SHOAH, but with handheld cameras. It's just not the same. Good history here, but room for improvement as a movie. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member a very good, and at times a difficult movie to watch. Murmelstein is a fascinating character. Willing to admit mistakes, to admit his pride and self confidence. He makes the case that he did the best he could in an impossible and horrific situation. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Last of the Unjust

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Benjamin Murmelstein, the only Jewish elder to survive World War II, fought with Adolf Eichmann week after week for seven years and managed to help more than 120,000 Jews leave Germany.
Director
Claude Lanzmann
Producer
David Frenkel, Jean Labadie, Danny Krausz, Kurt Stocker
Screenwriter
Claude Lanzmann
Production Co
Les Films Aleph, Synecdoche, Dor Film Produktionsgesellschaft, Le Pacte, France 3 Cinéma
Rating
PG-13 (Some Thematic Material)
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
German
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 1, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$38.4K
Runtime
3h 38m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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