Final Account

Luke Holland's 2021 documentary speaks with the last generation who were adults during the Third Reich. Among those interviewed are soldiers, camp personnel and people who lived through the period as children. The question is responsibility. Some describe openly what they did, some deny having known, some still speak in the language of the period; the film does not correct these answers or argue with them, it records them. Holland conducted hundreds of interviews over many years and died before the film was finished. That members of his own family were killed in this period gives the project a further weight; the documentary states this once and does not press it. Who it's for: those who follow documentary on the Second World War and testimony. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a close in which guilt is plainly admitted; most of those interviewed do not offer it.