The Last of the Unjust

PG-13

2013

3h 38m

Documentary

List

96%

47 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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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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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

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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

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Claude Lanzmann

Director

Benjamin Murmelstein

Self

Claude Lanzmann

Self

Claude Lanzmann

Writer

David Frenkel

Producer

Jean Labadie

Producer

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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
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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