Some will ask in partially good faith whether we really need another Holocaust documentary. Oddly enough, those same people never seem to ask if we really need another film about the environment. There have been a fair number released after Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoah.” Many of them were excellent, such as “Inside Hana’s Suitcase,” “Night Will Fall,” and “The Labyrinth.” Yet, the lack of will to combat the rise of anti-Semitic violence in Europe suggests there is indeed a pressing need for more Holocaust documentaries. While we can view them as part of the ongoing effort to prevent future atrocities, the emotional impact of the Holocaust persists to this day for the survivors giving testimony in British documentarian Claire Ferguson’s “Destination Unknown,” which opens this Friday, Nov. 10 in New York.
It is hard to imagine how a survivor like Ed Mosberg could don a replica concentration camp uniform to give educational programs, but his commitment is just that extraordinary. In contrast, another survivor explains why he felt a pressing need to have his camp tattoo removed, which we can all surely understand.
