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Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust
Indelible Shadows investigates questions raised by films about the Holocaust. How does one make a movie that is both morally just and marketable? Film scholar Annette Insdorf provides sensitive readings of individual films and analyzes theoretical issues such as the "truth claims" of the cinematic medium. The third edition of Indelible Shadows includes five new chapters that cover recent trends, as well as rediscoveries of motion pictures made during and just after World War II. It addresses the treatment of rescuers, as in Schindler's List; the controversial use of humor, as in Life is Beautiful; the distorted image of survivors, and the growing genre of documentaries that return to the scene of the crime or rescue. The annotated filmography offers capsule summaries and information about another hundred Holocaust films from around the world, making this edition the most comprehensive and up to date discussion of films about the Holocaust, and an invaluable resource for film programmers and educators. Annette Insdorf is Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University, and a Professor in the Graduate Film Division of the School of the Arts. She is the author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kielowski (Hyperion, 1999) and Francois Truffaut (Cambridge, 1995). She served as a jury member at the Berlin Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival, and is the panel moderator at the Telluride Film Festival. Insdorf co-hosts (with Roger Ebert) Cannes Film Festival coverage for BRAVo/IFC.
- GenresNonfictionFilmHistory
432 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1983
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About the author
Annette Insdorf
12 books11 followersAnnette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of the 92nd Street Y's Reel Pieces series in New York City. Her books include Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director’s work; two books about Polish filmmakers — Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has; Philip Kaufman; and the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel). Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes. Among the recent honors she has received are 92Y’s “Exceptional Women Award” (2020), the Silver Medallion from the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, and Moment Magazine’s Creativity Award (2021).
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January 25, 2015
As it title suggests, Indelible Shadows leaves a lingering impression of an unfinished and (fortunately) unforgotten process of coming to terms with the atrocities comitted in the middle of the Twentieth Century.
With a broad reach and a wide understanding of the relationship between film and its public, Insdorf does her best to catalogue a large array of movies into certain categories and sensibilities toward the Holocaust. From the huge setpieces with bombastic soundtracks and recognized actors like Victory (1981) and Holocaust (1978), to the more subtle works of Marcel Ophuls, Andrzej Wajda and the masterful Jean Renoir, among a delectably host of lesser known directors, writers and performers.
Documentaries are not left behind, as they are the subject of almost three self-contained chapters and their approach is usually as stirring and thoughtful as their fictional counterparts, and in some regards they stand on their own, showing an intimate attachment to their subjects. Insdorf guides the reader through all these passages with thorough analysis and links between movies, establishing a certain chain of thoughts and themes that try to include all the major participants in the Holocaust, before, during and after its wake.
With such a huge task, the book uses film to review relationships not only between jews of each nationality (for they all were different and undertook their beliefs in vastly different ways) and the german Nazi, but also what tied their misfortunes with the rest of Europe, with special attention to France, Poland and the United States. These relationships are not seen only within the geopolitical spectrum, but they're also used to exemplify human interaction, wether by accomplished actors or seen through non-fiction.
Many of the reviewed films were made by people directly related to the Holocaust, but there is often an urgency for non-jew or non-european directors to make a stand and speak about the unspeakable, what can be shown but not described. Most of them succeed, according to Insdorf. Although it only covers films made until the early 90s, these reviews and accounts remain valid not only as a reminder of the unbridled consequences of dictatorship and ethnic hatred, but they also shed light on how a country can relate to its internal violence through cinema.
With a broad reach and a wide understanding of the relationship between film and its public, Insdorf does her best to catalogue a large array of movies into certain categories and sensibilities toward the Holocaust. From the huge setpieces with bombastic soundtracks and recognized actors like Victory (1981) and Holocaust (1978), to the more subtle works of Marcel Ophuls, Andrzej Wajda and the masterful Jean Renoir, among a delectably host of lesser known directors, writers and performers.
Documentaries are not left behind, as they are the subject of almost three self-contained chapters and their approach is usually as stirring and thoughtful as their fictional counterparts, and in some regards they stand on their own, showing an intimate attachment to their subjects. Insdorf guides the reader through all these passages with thorough analysis and links between movies, establishing a certain chain of thoughts and themes that try to include all the major participants in the Holocaust, before, during and after its wake.
With such a huge task, the book uses film to review relationships not only between jews of each nationality (for they all were different and undertook their beliefs in vastly different ways) and the german Nazi, but also what tied their misfortunes with the rest of Europe, with special attention to France, Poland and the United States. These relationships are not seen only within the geopolitical spectrum, but they're also used to exemplify human interaction, wether by accomplished actors or seen through non-fiction.
Many of the reviewed films were made by people directly related to the Holocaust, but there is often an urgency for non-jew or non-european directors to make a stand and speak about the unspeakable, what can be shown but not described. Most of them succeed, according to Insdorf. Although it only covers films made until the early 90s, these reviews and accounts remain valid not only as a reminder of the unbridled consequences of dictatorship and ethnic hatred, but they also shed light on how a country can relate to its internal violence through cinema.
Displaying 1 of 1 review