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The last days
Threat advisory: Severe - Severe risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
This is the story of the Jews of Hungary, whose lives were forever changed when Germans invaded during the last days of World War II. The story is told by five people, all Americans now, who, as youngsters survived the Holocaust. The film follows them back to their hometowns, as they recount pleasant childhood memories, then, deportation to the camps, narrow escapes from execution, liberation, and their journeys to the USA.
Building entire new lives out of their turbulent childhoods, their tenacity is uplifting and their courage inspirational.
Tom Lantos is the only holocaust survivor ever elected to congress; Alice Lok Cahana is a highly regarded artist whose paintings reflect both the horrors and joys of her life; Bill Basch is a retired fashion industry executive; Irene Zisblatt is a proud grandmother and self-made businesswoman.
Shot on location in the USA, Europe and Ukraine, The last days is a monumental filmmaking achievement.
The film interweaves eyewitness accounts, pivotal historic footage and a powerful score from Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Cinematic intelligence sources
- The last days official movie site
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
*Shudders*
When you think of Nazis killing Jews in World War II, it's a very far-away thing. The other side of the planet, an entirely different generation, an entirely different culture. Then you watch TV and see Ethnic Cleansing (genocide with spin, although it's not as good as Collateral Damage or - my personal favourite - Friendly Fire): it's still on the other side of the planet, being waged by the Nazi generation in an entirely different culture. How can your average Aussie get a handle on this stuff? This is the country where Pauline Hanson is an extremist.
Probably the best way is to show the human side of the situation. Survivors reliving the agonies, terrors and inhumanities of life as a Jew in Hitler's Aryan world. Well, that is what The last days gives you: Jewish children who survived, a German doctor who experimented on them and American soldiers who liberated them. Drawing on all the emotion of these stunningly potent events, imaging them with a slickness that mirrors Hollywood and underlying it all with an evocative score, this film brought tears to your cynic reviewer's eyes. It is disturbing, shocking, powerful and true. It is recommended to everyone, everywhere.
Genocide: the choice of a Nazi generation.
Security censorship classification
M (Adult themes, graphic war footage)
Surveillance time
86 minutes (1:26 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 15 July 1999 - Melbourne, Sydney
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