Ploydsge just watch it!

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Michael_Elliott The Last Days (1998) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Haunting, depressing and hard to watch documentary from director James Moll has five Hungarian Jews talking about their time before, during and after being placed in concentration camps at the end of WWII as Hitler was in the last days of murdering as many people as he could. THE LAST DAYS picked up the Best Documentary Oscar and there's no question that it's a very powerful movie, perfectly put together to show the horrors of these camps. Through the interviews and archival footage, most people will probably want to avoid this film simply because of how graphic the photos are and there's no question that it's incredibly depressing. Yes, there's a bit a hope thrown in for the inspiration to survive but this really doesn't take away the haunting images that we're shown. There are several times throughout the film that the five people break down crying while telling their stories and it really makes you wonder what it would be like having to go through life with these graphic images constantly in your head. Seeing people shot, burned to death, melt down into skeletons and worse is just something that no one should have to go through life witnessing and then having to live with. Another interesting segment deals with the eventual rescue by the American troops. We get to see some interviews with those troops and hearing their stories of being shocked were also very heartbreaking. I thought director Moll did a terrific job at taking all the stories and editing them together just as if the story was being told by one person. THE LAST DAYS isn't an easy film to watch as some of the images are just horrible but for history buffs it's a must see.

allaboutthefamily As far as documentaries go this one was informative and fast paced enough to keep you interested. I felt that the selection of vintage footage was right on the mark, along with *most* of the people they interviewed (it seemed kind of pointless to make the old lady go back to the refugee camp*brick factory* and cry, i don't feel it added anything to the story, plus she was not a very good interview). I think it gives us a good look into what things were like at that time, although the viewpoint is obviously biased. That is not to say i wish to trivialize the experience of the survivors, but it seemed odd that they sat the doctor, who had helped the Jews survive the holocaust by enlisting them in harmless tests, next to the old woman and practically let her attack him (an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind). The directing in the movie was nothing spectacular, as no great symbolism existed in many of the key shots, such as the survivors going back to visit the camps, but the work was solid although not artistic (which is par for most all documentaries). In the end this documentary relies upon the fact that it has a subject matter that sells, just as if i were to plunk down 30 million dollars and make a documentary about 9/11 a bunch of people would be on here saying it was the "best movie ever". no offense but subject matter does not a movie make. In conclusion i say if your looking for a documentary on the holocaust from a perspective of (polish?) Jews then this is your man, if you want to see a better story from the holocaust see schindlers list and if you want the whole story read a lot and goto the Museum of tolerance in either LA or NYC.

MisterWhiplash What can I say that hasn't been said by others who have come across this essential document of the survivors of the holocaust? It goes beyond any kind of rating; watching the people on screen tell their stories, and re-connect with their haunted roots, is about as captivating as it can get, genuinely so, enough to not want to look away. The stories from the five survivors is just enough to make it a crucial piece of history, of something that will survive past their years as their own talked-of memories of what they saw, the people they saw murdered including their families, of being stripped of humanity and more deeply for their souls. The actual footage of almost ten years ago of inside camps of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen is equally powerful to see. But it's another that other interviews are included with the likes of an ex-Auschwitz Nazi doctor who didn't go along with his other sadistic colleagues; the American soldiers who were appalled to discover what they thought contained German prisoners of war to be thousands of Jews; the one US Congressman (at the time) to survive the holocaust. The history of this period of the early to mid 40's has become abstracted in the view of society, something so enormous it's even more staggering that similar practices go on in other countries today. The notes of what Hitler did is given notice in the film, but the facts are more as a back-drop for what the Last Days focus is. By director James Moll going in for these women's stories, of what they lost and tried to regain, is just as important to see in its own light as Schindler's List as a dramatization of the facts. It's not too much a wonder it got the best documentary prize at the Oscars. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg (speaking of 'Schindler') and the Shoa foundation.

eury I was fortunate enough to see this film at an advance screening hosted by the National Archive of Jewish Film at Brandeis University. This screening was full of professors and experts in the field of Holocaust study. Also present was one of the interviewees of the film.This film effected me in ways that no other Holocaust documentary has. I have been learning about the Holocaust for many years, and I naïvely thought that I understood the magnitude of this disaster. What I realized during this movie was that no one can understand the experience of such a tragedy. Some of the most poignant moments were when the survivors walked through the camps with their children, recalling details along the way. Their children stood dutifully beside their parents the entire time, never understanding what their parents experienced.The film bills itself as "the story of five remarkable people whose strength and will to live represent the extraordinary power of the human spirit." I don't feel that the movie followed this path, but took a different, much more intriguing journey. The audience left the theater understanding that the Holocaust is not something that can be summed up in a movie. Though the movie posed the question "why did it happen?" it never gives an answer. Instead, it shows that there is no way to reach a conclusion when one is faced with such a tragedy.