The Last Days

Hungary stayed largely clear of deportation to the camps until the last year of the war. In 1944 that changed. Germany occupied the country and within a few months hundreds of thousands were put on trains. The end of the war was in sight and the transports were carried out anyway. The documentary follows five people who lived through it. All five live in America today. They speak to camera. Then they all return to Hungary; they go to the houses they were born in, to their schools, and to the camp. Among them are a member of congress, a teacher, a painter and a businesswoman. James Moll directs. Bill Basch, Alice Lok Cahana, Renée Firestone, Irene Zisblatt and Tom Lantos appear in it. It is an American production. The documentary was made by the testimony archive founded by Steven Spielberg, which recorded the accounts of thousands of people. The film won the Oscar for best documentary. The narrative keeps the historical background short and gives the weight to the testimony. The documentary records the return journeys; the survivors speak in their own former places. It also interviews a camp doctor, and that section is its most uncomfortable part. The film describes what came after liberation too; most of those who went back found their homes in other hands. Its limit is method; the structure is conventional, the music steers, and the historical context is limited. Who it is for: viewers who like testimony documentary and narratives of the Holocaust. Who it is not for: it is shattering, heavy, and the ending bitter.