This film suffers from a bad English-language title and a description that misdirects, as Freud's role in the film ultimately comes across as minor, being little more than a vehicle for telling the story of twenty Jewish children murdered as part of Nazi medical experiments. Arguably there was a missed opportunity here to actually tell Freud's story, but the film more than makes up for this in how it goes about reconstructing the stories of the children.
The power of the film comes in large part from its unusual blending of dramatic and documentary elements. At times this is jarring. But the closing scenes in which two elderly Holocaust survivors meet with the child actors who play themselves and their murdered childhood friend Sergio, is among the strangest and most poignant moments I've experienced in a documentary film.
The world is losing connection with this horrifying chapter in our shared history, we are taking the causes of stability and order for granted, and we're playing chicken with renewed world war and genocide. This film succeeds better than most at making a tangible bridge to the past, reminding us of what we risk losing through the corrosion of legal institutions and medical ethics, and of how bad things can get when the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
The power of the film comes in large part from its unusual blending of dramatic and documentary elements. At times this is jarring. But the closing scenes in which two elderly Holocaust survivors meet with the child actors who play themselves and their murdered childhood friend Sergio, is among the strangest and most poignant moments I've experienced in a documentary film.
The world is losing connection with this horrifying chapter in our shared history, we are taking the causes of stability and order for granted, and we're playing chicken with renewed world war and genocide. This film succeeds better than most at making a tangible bridge to the past, reminding us of what we risk losing through the corrosion of legal institutions and medical ethics, and of how bad things can get when the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
