Jspenx

The idea is fresh. The approach is new, seeing the extreme dehumanization the characters are going through, living their daily lives right next to the concentration camp. Like a dark cloud hovering above you, the viewer, without actually raining, you hear the terrors happening just a few meters away, but you never see anything. Cries, gunshots, screams, chimneys smoking, soldiers shouting. It's dark, it's profound.

And then? Nothing happens. This new narration of the holocaust is interesting, but is clearly given in the first ten minutes of the film. Plot wise, the story becomes stale, as we see a German family going on and about their daily lives, and the film becoming a complete bore before even the first half an hour passes. Huller does the best she can, grasping tight on her rise to stardom with two much discussed movies in 2023, but it's just not enough.

It shouldn't be a feature film, but a short one. In 20 minutes, it had all the time it needed to convey its themes and messages and would leave the viewer satisfied. Now it overstayed its welcome and doesn't deserve the praise or the hype, even if we consider how the critics go bats about holocaust films even before watching.