“The Auschwitz Report” Reveals the History

Release Date：Sep/24/2021

Genre：Drama/History/War

Director：Peter Bebjak

Cast：Noel Czuczor、Peter Ondrejicka、John Hannah

Viola's Rating: 8.3

There are a bunch of feature films that depict what happened during the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, but there are still some little-known sides that we rarely see on the big screen. Slovak actor, director, producer and writer Peter Bebjak’s latest film “The Auschwitz Report”, which was selected as the Slovak entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93^rd Academy Awards, reveals one of them. Although it wasn’t nominated, it still topped the box office in Slovakia, and was released in the U.S. limitedly on Sept 24, 2021.

Based on the Vrba–Wetzler report, one of the three documents that comprise what is known as The Auschwitz Report, this historic war drama tells the true story of Freddy and Walter, two young Slovak Jews, who were deported to Auschwitz in 1942. After careful planning and with the help and the resilience of their inmates, Freddy and Walter manage to escape on April 10, 1944.

While the inmates, they had left behind, courageously stand their ground against the Nazi officers, Freddy and Walter are driven on by the hope that their evidence could save lives. Emaciated and hurt, they make their way through the mountains back to Slovakia. With the kindness of chance encounters, they finally manage to cross the border and meet The Red Cross and the resistance.

They compile a detailed report about the systematic genocide at the camp. However, with international liaisons and Nazi propaganda still in place, their account seems to be too distressing to believe.

“The Auschwitz Report” is more like an artistic flick instead of an adrenaline-filled action motion picture. There aren’t too many chasings and shootings after Freddy and Walter get out of the camp, and no exciting plots were created for the tension during their escape. On the other hand, kindness they received during their run was presented, showing that their success wasn’t merely a two-men job, but a miracle done by so many people.

Keith Lowe’s book “The Fear and the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us”, published in 2017, included how Professor Otto Dov Kulka described the reality of the Auschwitz camp. “The Auschwitz Report” also shows the confiscation of personal belongings, the notorious “division” at the train station, the shaving, etc.

In the end of the movie, while the credits are rolling, historic recordings are being played, as a bookend of the quote of Spanish American essayist, novelist, philosopher and poet George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.” “The Auschwitz Report” may not be an exciting thriller, but it’s definitely an amazing work to remind us of the brutal history happened.

Picture Credit: IMDb