The Photographer of Mauthausen

A Spanish film set in a concentration camp. Francesc Boix is a photographer who crossed into France after the Spanish Civil War and was sent from there to the camp at Mauthausen. There are thousands of Spaniards there. Boix starts working in the camp's photographic service. What the service does is this: the SS administration records its own activity and prints the pictures. The images of the crimes committed in the camp are produced inside it. Boix makes a plan. He wants to duplicate the negatives and get them out. He cannot do it alone; the organised group of Spanish prisoners becomes involved and the negatives are carried out piece by piece. That is where the tension comes from: any photograph could be found missing at a count, and the price of that is death. The narrative rests on real events. Boix saved thousands of negatives and testified with those photographs at the postwar trials; the images were used in the charges. Mario Casas plays Boix. Mar Targarona directed. It was shot in Spain and Hungary. A strong example for anyone who likes historical drama and narratives based on real events. Before you watch, know this: the film shows camp conditions and violence directly.