Can Hollywood successfully tackle the horror of the Holocaust?
Critics say three new films depicting 'humanity's darkest chapter' offer 'unexpected hopefulness'

Three new films about the Holocaust are set to be released this year as Hollywood continues to grapple with the horror of the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews.
The films "could not be more different", said The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland, but they do share one thing: "a tacit belief that the Shoah remains humanity's ultimate moral test case."
As the movies prepare for release, one overriding question remains, Freedland added: "can cinema ever hope to adequately confront humanity’s darkest chapter?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Daunting challenge'
Countless films have been made about the Holocaust, from George Stevens's "The Diary of Anne Frank", to Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful" to Steven Spielberg's seminal "Schindler's List".
All of them face "a daunting, possibly insuperable challenge", said The Economist. "They must attempt to convey the horror while knowing that their efforts are bound to be inadequate, and risk seeming disrespectful of the suffering."
Part of this complexity is the "natural impulse to tell the stories of those who lived, rather than died", said Freedland.
Director Stanley Kubrick abandoned his own Holocaust film after "Schindler's List" came out, saying: "The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed, 'Schindler's List' is about 600 who don't."
Holocaust films "mostly come in two varieties", said US film critic website Roger Ebert. Some are survival stories, other are "bleak, harrowing viewing experiences" that emphasise the fact that "survival sadly wasn’t the reality that most European Jews experienced".
"Schindler's List", which turns 30 this year, "somehow navigated both of these realities at the same time, and did so for a mass audience", Ebert said.
Like "Schindler's List", this year's crop of films share an "unexpectedly hopeful message too", said Freedland. "It is that even the deepest darkness passes eventually" and that "for all the torments of the present… we are lucky to live now, not then – even if we sometimes struggle to see it".
'Linking the past to the present'
For The New York Times' Esther Zuckerman, the three movies set for release this year are seeking to "challenge the idea of what [Holocaust films] can and should be".
In "The Zone of Interest", the British director Jonathan Glazer adapts a Martin Amis novel portraying the daily life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz. The film "barely goes inside the camp", instead focusing on the "visually idyllic world the couple have created for their family all while Höss plans the extermination of the Jews imprisoned next door".
"Occupied City", based on Bianca Stigter's book "Atlas of an Occupied City: Amsterdam 1940-1945", explains what happened during the Nazi occupation at various buildings in the Dutch city. It was made by British director Steve McQueen, who is married to Stigter.
The third picture out this year, "Origin", is also based on a book: Isabel Wilkerson's non-fiction best seller "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents". The film compares the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany to that of Black people in America and the Dalits in India.
All of the films are successful, in different ways, said Zuckerman, because they all "turn an analytical eye on their subject matter, linking the horrors of the past to the present". Doing so makes "the subject feel as upsettingly resonant as ever".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Arion McNicoll is a freelance writer at The Week Digital and was previously the UK website’s editor. He has also held senior editorial roles at CNN, The Times and The Sunday Times. Along with his writing work, he co-hosts “Today in History with The Retrospectors”, Rethink Audio’s flagship daily podcast, and is a regular panellist (and occasional stand-in host) on “The Week Unwrapped”. He is also a judge for The Publisher Podcast Awards.
-
5 hilariously cutting cartoons about the Department of Education
Cartoons Artists take on being rotten to the core, budget cuts, and more
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
Sickness benefits: an unaffordable burden?
Talking Point A welfare bill 'debacle' caused by 'sickfluencers' who are beating the system
-
The best TV shows based on movies
The Week Recommends A handful of shows avoid derivative storytelling and craft bold narrative expansions
-
Film reviews: Superman and Sorry, Baby
Feature A hero returns, in surprising earnest, and a woman navigates life after a tragedy
-
The best film prequels of all time
The Week Recommends Balancing new information with what the audience already knows is a perilous tightrope
-
'Immigrant' Superman film raises hackles on the right
TALKING POINT Director James Gunn's comments about the iconic superhero's origins and values have rankled conservatives who embrace the Trump administration's strict anti-immigrant agenda
-
Ari Aster revisits the pandemic, Adam Sandler tees off again and Lamb Chop gets an origin story in July movies
the week recommends The month's film releases include 'Eddington,' 'Happy Gilmore 2' and 'Shari & Lamb Chop'
-
Film reviews: F1: The Movie, 28 Years Later, and Familiar Touch
Feature An aging race car driver gets one last chance, a kid struggles to survive in this '28 Days Later' update, and a woman with dementia adjusts to her new life
-
From Hilde, With Love – the 'moving' story of an accidental revolutionary
The Week Recommends Liv Lisa Fries gives a 'compelling' performance as the soft-spoken heroine.
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material