frankwiener I have spent much of my adult life trying to understand the intensity of the hatred that led to the Holocaust of World War II. While millions of others also died at the hands of the Nazis, I have always been challenged by the one obsessive goal of the Nazis to destroy the once vibrant Jewish community of Europe by any means possible. This documentary by French director Alain Resnais of just over 30 minutes may not provide any of the answers for which I have been spending my entire life searching, but it does at least attempt to capture the enormous horror that occurred at that time. Resnais deliberately contrasts the peaceful surroundings that existed at the sites of the Nazi camps following the war against the unimaginable level of human cruelty, suffering, and violence that took place at these locations during the war. While some reviewers have taken issue with the background music, which they found to be far too whimsical or fanciful for the gravity of the subject matter, I believe that Resnais intended to use this kind of music to enhance the stunning sense of irony between the serenity that prevailed at the campsites at the time of filming and the overwhelming chaos and disorder that once caused such profound anguish to so many at the very same locations. While I appreciate the negative reaction of some viewers to the choice of music, I don't share it. I also note that, for whatever reason, there seem to be very few photographs and film footage available that caught firsthand the widespread atrocities of the Nazis in the camps and beyond. Resnais used what little was available to him in order to convey his essential and shocking message to his audience.First time viewers need to proceed with caution. In spite of its often repulsive but real content, this is a film that must be seen in order for us to realize just how cruel human beings can be to each other. We need to understand this so that this tragic chapter of history does not repeat itself.

awesomeness0232 I seldom review movies online, especially on sites like this where there are already a huge number of reviews. However, having just finished watching this film, I feel the need to record some thoughts. I came to IMDb and read the reviews before I put it on, and they made me a little uneasy. I was even hesitant to turn on Night and Fog after having read the reviews. However, especially given that I come from a Jewish family and had Grandparents in Europe during the Holocaust, I felt that I should sit down and watch this film just once. Besides, I had read the comments and knew what to expect. Trust me, nothing you read can tell you what to expect when you watch this film. Resnais is one of the greatest filmmakers France ever produced, and he manages to captivate and affect his audience as much in 30 minutes with Night and Fog as he or any other filmmaker has in any amount of time. The film will both compel and sicken you. You will want to turn it off, yet you won't be able to tear your eyes from the screen. If you seek an understanding of how horrifying the Holocaust truly was, look no further than Night and Fog.

giveandsee The documentary seeks to capture the viewer's attention by displaying that glimpse of what went in German concentration camps. This historical footage used in this film made available due to the German's documentation of their key activities. The Germans were very detailed and methodical in their management of the concentration camps.The documentary mentions that the concentration camps seemed like another world. The film started out with beautiful scenery. Beautiful scenery like farm lands, meadows, roads, resort towns, and areas of harvest. These areas were mentioned in a positive manner and were in close proximity to the contrasting concentration camps.The concentration camps testified to Germany's compressed industrial history. The film mentions that Germany itself was like an industrial machine, an industrial machine that was high in production and in working order because of its government. The Germans running the concentration camps believed they were being modern, scientific, or even groundbreaking. The concentration camps were built in tune with the modern times. There were contractors assigned to build them to a certain specification or style. The buildings even had bids on them to be built. The camps were build ahead of time before the prisoners arrived. When it came time fore the prisoners to arrive they were transported in modern age trains and vehicles. The Germans pushed the limit with their science. They experimented with the Jewish prisoners by use of inhumane methods and treatments. Their justification for the experiments was purely for scientific discovery. However, in legitimate science, scientist would not try to back up their views based on a racial bias. This operation was purely self-financed by the German Nazis so any conduct was accepted. Work ethic is heavily implemented in the lives of the Jewish prisoners. The SS stressed to the prisoners that "work is the only means of freedom". However, freedom wasn't possible for the prisoners in reality. Violence was a corrective action used by the SS. In the film it was by the implementation of heavy order. There was uninterrupted fear among the prisoners because at any time they could have a spot check, punishment, or a trip of no return. The killing or punishment by hand was present in the camps, but was not efficient. The Germans implemented mass killing in which they used the crematorium or the gas chamber. The film Night and Fog depicts the mass killings as a seamless process. It was almost like it was nothing to the Nazi German soldiers.At the concentration camps there were no individuals. The camps were only about the collective and smaller groupings of that collective. There were groupings such as woman, children, criminals, the elderly, disabled, and other groups. Certain measures were even made to destroy and individualism that survived with the prisoners. Each prisoner had to wear a symbol to signify that they were a Jewish prisoner. This symbol classified the Jews as a collective in the camps. The prisoners were stripped of all their individual clothes. This was not only humiliating but it reduced the prisoners to objects of flesh and bone. The prisoners started to look alike and have a indeterminable age because they were mostly naked, skinny, and tired. The Germans for the most part destroyed the Jewish prisoner's individuality and culture. However, the Jewish prisoners did keep their faith and found ways to mentally escape their hardship. They wrote letters, created sculptures, or even reflected on scriptures. (There may be some spelling mistakes but I think I got my idea across)

lhnrlmitz Night and Fog documents the tragedy from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor, it pulls you straight into the mood with its poetic narrative, its curiosity arousing opening shot of an abandoned concentration camp and its depressing score.The infamous Holocaust was known to almost everyone through obscured history teachings and heroic war films that didn't leave me with the impact "Night and Fog" did. We are constantly reminded in films and books that 6 million Jews were massacred and other atrocities the Nazis committed but what impact did it really had? To me, little to non, maybe with just a passing thought "Hitler is a real psycho".After watching Night and Fog, then i did finally realized the cruelty that had happened, blockbuster films doesn't show you that, history books couldn't paint the picture. The raw stock images and footages used were gruesome, Stretched to my 16:9 monitor, I was stared by a real corpse, witness bodies being bulldozed.... They didn't made me scared but empty, it was weird, indescribable.We people living in this age are enjoying and entertained by WW2 exploits, Nazis and Hitler being destroyed over and over again in countless films, and us enjoying it, yes "justice" must be served and of cause we are also entertained to have them back as always to be our central villainous figure. This is awfully similar to how the Nazis influence their citizens into believing the Nazi's cause, I'm not saying that modern films of WW2 exploits are all propagandas because most of them are to milk money, yet they delivers the same kind of messages: " Our cause is honorable ", " We serve justice " " We are good and they evil "..... People may argue that the fact is they really are on the good side and films are portraying the fact but that's not the point, the point is what humans are capable of when exposed to all these ideologies, quote from the last stanza of Night and Fog "Are their faces really different from our own?". I couldn't cry nor am i enraged when this documentary completes its final stanza, just empty.