Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004) User Reviews (6)

Maybe if we don't notice, it will go away

[Red-125 · 7/10 · 27 July 2009]

"Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust" (2004) was directed by Daniel Anker and narrated by Gene Hackman. The film is a serious, in-depth exploration of Hollywood's and television's portrayal of the Holocaust. The director presents film clips--both newsreels and commercial films--about Hollywood's response to the Holocaust before, during, and after World War II.

Hollywood is an industry, of course, not a force for or against social justice. Both before and after the war, Hollywood's decisions about portraying the Holocaust hinged on the possibility of profits, or loss of profits, from depicting the Nazi horrors.

Seventy-five years after the rise of Naziism, we forget how much support Fascism then had in the U.S. and in western Europe. Producers, even though many were Jews, feared losing potential markets if they portrayed the true nature of the situation in Germany.

During the war, many filmmakers worked for the Army Signal Corps, and they accomplished great things. However, most American leaders were more interested in defeating the Germans than in saving the Jews and other minorities being shipped to concentration camps.

After the war, an unwritten code of silence arose. Possibly producers believed that an honest portrayal of the Holocaust would alienate audiences. Also, of course, postwar Germany was considered an important ally in the struggle against Communism, and politicians quietly urged that Hollywood turn its attention elsewhere. Another factor in downplaying the Holocaust was the wish to prevent people from asking, "Why didn't we do something?"

It wasn't until the 1970's that television producers realized that people would watch dramas about the Holocaust. Once the unspoken taboo was broken, Hollywood struggled to catch up. However, it's interesting to consider how long it took for films like "The Pawnbroker," "Sophie's Choice," and "Schindler's List" to make it to the screen.

All in all, an excellent, but discouraging film. Worth seeing, but definitely not a feel-good movie. We saw "Imaginary Witness" at the outstanding Rochester Jewish Film Festival. However, it should work well on a small screen

An ineffable experience only understood by those that survived the camps.

[lastliberal · 8/10 · 6 February 2009]

An outstanding account of the atrocities that happened in Germany, and Hollywood's dealing with in in light of the makeup of Hollywood, the acceptable mores of the times, the House Un-American witch hunt, and other factors.

It was interesting that television led the way in presenting the Holocaust with a guest on "This is Your Life" being the first instance. After a weak Anne Frank movie, TV returns with Judgement at Nuremberg on "Playhouse 90" in 1959. The fact that one of the sponsors was The American Gas Company muted the effort.

But, Hollywood soon began to get it right. It was after The Holocaust, an 8 hour miniseries was aired and survivors began telling their stories.

How Hollywood handled this tragic part of history is an interesting story and part of a body of knowledge that will help in viewing these films.

An Interesting Overview of Film History

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 13 March 2013]

This documentary goes over the history of the Holocaust on film from 1940 up through today (2004). What I found most interesting is how they actually started with the presentation of Nazis on film, and not the Holocaust in particular. The point being that aside from "Great Dictator" and "Mortal Storm", many films of the war era were not at all critical of the Nazi regime... in fact, they were almost pleasant.

What I next found interesting was the reluctance to use he word "Jew" in a movie. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who died in the Holocaust. Yet, apparently, the first film version of Frank's story goes out of the way not to mention why her family is being persecuted because they felt that non-Jews would not be able to identify with the events.

Interestingly, Steven Spielberg says that not many films have been made about the Holocaust. I would say that all depends on how you define "not many". There have been hundreds, starting with a slow trickle (5) in the 1940s and up to dozens a year since the 1970s...

An excellent documentary!

[brewsterlewster · 10/10 · 16 March 2005]

I am perplexed that this documentary has not reached more people. And I am equally confused as to why the IMDb "weighted" rating is below 6 when only TWO people gave it less than a 6! Does this make sense????? Will IMDb publish this review? Anyway, this is an expertly made documentary on Hollywood, not just how they handled one topic, but how they are embroiled in current politics. There will be some surprises to some moviegoers and clips from some relatively unknown gems, some of which I have never seen and will now seek out! I am a big fan of Gene Hackman but I think his narration was a little lackluster. Otherwise, I have to give this documentary a big thumbs up.

a piece for school, a film study that open eyes

[agaluro · 10/10 · 20 February 2005]

A great review of what Hollywood needed to do -and whatnot- to expose Nazi Germany's intentions... It is a well-documented film with great interviews and original footage to prove that cinema can be used for either wrong or right purposes... This one, it is for the right mission: illustrate how coward was US witnessing what Hitler was doing against the Judaism... Nevermore, please! And even though some raw footage is missing when US troops discovered the death camps, the narration accomplished the feelings of those who watched back then... Hopefully Michael Moore sees this documentary to make him to shift their style of film documenting, where serious stuff can be covered straight forward, without all the comic gimmicks he used to abuse them on his films...

An Eye-Opening Documentary

[LeonardKniffel · 8/10 · 4 May 2020]

The 2004 documentary film "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust," explains a lot about why the United States was so reluctant to enter World War II. The disturbing fact is that anti-Semitism, isolationism , and fascist leanings were so strong in America that Hollywood producers and directors were reluctant to make anti-Nazi films because they would be branded un-American. Even one of Hollywood's strongest warnings against the evils of Hitler, "Mortal Storm" starring big box office draws James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, managed to tackle anti-Semitism without ever using the word "Jew." Nevertheless, Germany banned all MGM films after its release.

According to this film, pre-World War II Hollywood avoided confronting Nazism in part because of powerful forces in Congress and in business (Joseph P. Kennedy among them) who touted isolationism as the best tactic for America. It really was not until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and truly created a "World War" that the United States was compelled to enter. It is also interesting to noted that the most effective anti-Hitler film of the pre-war years was Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," a film made possible only because of Chaplin's great wealth and personal determination. Chaplin was chided by many for the film and branded a typical Hollywood Jew, even though he was not Jewish!

At one point, one of the film's commentators says of the Holocaust, "We had information and we had information early; we did not act on that information." We know now that Polish gentile Jan Karski was one of those who risked their lives to bring that information to the West. His sacrifices were futile in the face of a stubborn refusal of many Americans to believe or to care. In many ways, "Imaginary Witness" is almost as guilty of omitting mention of Poland and Polish resistance as Hollywood was in its omissions. Nevertheless, this is an eye-opening documentary, containing testimony from many who lived through the war. I found the pre-war sections more enlightening than the post-war segments simply because I saw the post-war era firsthand. The documentary also gave me a list of films to see, some of which I never knew existed. Among them, "Heroes for Sale" (1937), "Black Legion" (1937), "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939), "I Married a Nazi" (1940), "To Be or Not to Be" (1942), "None Shall Escape" (1944), "Crossfire" (1947), "Gentlemen's Agreement" (1947), "The Search" (1948), "Singing in the Dark" (1956), and "The Pawnbroker" (1964). It will be interesting to see how Poland is represented, if at all, in these movies about the Holocaust.