STUDIO: Focus Features | DIRECTOR: Luke Holland
THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2021
SPECS: PG-13 | 90 min. | Documentary | German with English subtitles
Final Account is a harrowing survey of Nazi actions during World War II as recounted by real Nazis. It took 12 years for British filmmaker Luke Holland (Good Morning, Mr. Hitler) to record the recollections of some 300 elderly men and women who lived in and around the Nazi machine during the war. But what Holland (who passed away last year at the age of 71) has achieved will be a lasting cinematic document of evil in the modern world.
Just as it was with Claude Lanzmann’s landmark Shoah, it is both shocking and fascinating to witness this array of people willingly involved in the Holocaust speak openly of their roles in exterminating all of Europe’s Jews during World War II in hopes of achieving Hitler’s goal of the “Final Solution.” There is a one-time governess, former Hitler youth members, concentration camp guards and SS officer, all of whom vividly recall their experiences while showing few signs of remorse. They talk about how friends, teachers and parents influenced them, but in many cases, it appears to have had little effect on their thoughts and actions.
Some even seem content with their role in the Holocaust, now pulling out photos from the era and even proudly showing off their pro-Nazi tattoos, medals or other fond souvenirs. Some of the interview subjects speak of events that frightened them during that time—witnessing shootings, torching homes, guards leading Jews to mysterious compounds where they would disappear—yet all remained complacent, accepting the horrors that swirled around them.
Final Account, presented mostly in German with English subtitles, uses stark black-and-white photographs and striking color archival footage which feature proudly displayed swastikas. Most telling, however, are the elderly Nazi followers’ ultimate view of history, which amount to an accounting by those who wish to remain unaccountable for their actions and non-actions.
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