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Movies / On DVD / Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust

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Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)

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Reviews Counted:16

Fresh:14

Rotten:2

Average Rating:6.9/10

Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Synopsis: This documentary examines Hollywood's portrayal of the Holocaust over a 60-year period. One of the defining tragedies of the modern age, the mass murder of six million Jews was at first greeted... This documentary examines Hollywood's portrayal of the Holocaust over a 60-year period. One of the defining tragedies of the modern age, the mass murder of six million Jews was at first greeted with silence by the film industry, before being portrayed in an increasingly explicit fashion. With a wealth of film clips and a panel of industry insiders at its disposal, IMAGINARY WITNESS tackles the complex ethical questions and moral dilemmas that go along with representing an event of unspeakable horror. [More]

Starring: Steven Spielberg, Sidney Lumet, Rod Steiger, Branko Lustig

Starring: Steven Spielberg, Sidney Lumet, Rod Steiger, Branko Lustig, George Stevens, Vincent Sherman, Neal Gabler

Director: Daniel Anker

Director: Daniel Anker
Producer: Daniel Anker, Ellen Baumel
Composer: Andrew Barrett

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust

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1 - 18 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
11/06/09
Entertainment Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/27/09
Ronnie Scheib
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Deserves merit for detailing a painful subject with maturity and intelligence

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/16/09
Phil Hall
Phil Hall
Film Threat

Noteworthy for clips from less familiar films and newsreels, and interviews with creative participants in groundbreaking films.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
01/13/09
Nora Lee Mandel
Nora Lee Mandel
Film-Forward.com

Originally made for AMC, its solid collection of clips does illustrate one salient point: Depicting evil poorly is a sin unto itself.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
04/04/08
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

Some of the speakers are a bit too self-congratulatory, but the film is still hugely informative.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
04/03/08
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Imaginary Witness is powerful and complex, and few will manage to make it through to the end without gasping, weeping or covering their eyes.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
02/07/08
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic

Anker's film is an important one, shining a light on that red stain and how we saw it filtered through Hollywood's lens.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
01/18/08
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

Sheds light on the paradoxes and political maneuvering that went on in the studios.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/17/08
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Falls into the some of the same traps as the films it politely criticizes.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/11/08
Eric Monder
Eric Monder
Film Journal International

Daniel Anker's film faults Hollywood both for ignoring the Holocaust during the war years and for trivializing it later. It's a mixed message that coheres largely thanks to Anker's archival spadework and his luck in securing interviews.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/04/08
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Daniel Anker’s 90-minute documentary takes on over 60 years of a very complex subject: Hollywood’s complicated, often contradictory relationship with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/26/07
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Imaginary Witness works fine as an illustrated history, but the material could've supported something more probing and provocative.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
12/26/07
Noel Murray
Noel Murray
AV Club

Uses an ample supply of clips from dozens of films to shows how Hollywood at first declined to portray the horrors of the Holocaust before going all-out to graphically exhibit the dimensions of evil.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
12/25/07
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

The most dispassionate account of the Holocaust in the last 20 years.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
12/22/07
Paul Schrodt
Paul Schrodt
Slant Magazine

Anker's excavated some remarkable stuff here...

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/18/07
Nick Pinkerton
Nick Pinkerton
Village Voice

This solid, clip-heavy history of Hollywood’s narrative efforts pushes past sobriety to arrive at some tough ideas.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
12/13/07
Joshua Rothkopf
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York

A dash of cold water for both the movie industry and the public.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/26/05
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
 
 
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