[Republished for Jewish Heritage Month, for my Jewish friends; personally, I lean more toward Taoism and Buddhism myself.. non-judgment, non-killing, no invisible man in the sky]These are all the holocaust films I found in my research, both ranked and unranked. I'm sure I've missed some, and some are borderline,
see the note below the list. Many of these will not be for children, and some are definitely not for the squeamish, as this is about as horrifying as mankind can become.
RANKED
1. Schindler's List [Spielberg, 1993] #27
[photo top]
2. Shoah [Lanzmann, 1985] #119
3. Salo [Pasolini, 1975] #240
4. Army of Shadows [Melville, 1969] #296
5. Triumph of the Will [Riefenstahl, 1935] #455
6. Night and Fog [Resnais, 1955] #457
7. Life is Beautiful [Begnini, 1997] #495
8. Come and See [Klimov, 1985] #559
9. Hitler: A Film from Germany [Syberberg, 1977] #857
10. Au Revoir Les Enfants [Malle, 1987] #1083
Ironically, Oskar Schindler was a failed capitalist who saw an opportunity to succeed with cheap Jewish labor in WW2, and only later developed a conscience. Shoah is absolutely gut-wrenching, interviews with survivors from both sides, and not for the squeamish; it has some horrifying descriptions, but is a 9 1/2 hr masterpiece of devotion to a cause. Triumph of the Will doesn't deal with the holocaust directly, but one can see the roots develop in this brilliant piece of propaganda filmmaking. Army of Shadows is an engrossing film of the French underground, based on a true story. Come and See is a harrowing Russian film of the Nazi invasion of Belorus, a defenseless agrarian region of small villages that became the scorched earth.
UNRANKED
1. A Generation Apart [1984]
2. A Secret [2007]
3. Adam Resurrected [2008]
4. All My Loved Ones [2000]
5. America and the Holocaust [1994]
6. Angry Harvest [1985]
7. Anne Frank Remembered [1995]
8. Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl []
9. Anne Frank: The Whole Story [2001]
10. Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State [2005]
11. Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning [2007]
12. Billy Graham: The Hiding Place [1975]
13. Bonhoeffer [2003]
14. Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace [2000]
15. Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The [2008]
16. Boys From Brazil, The [1978]
17. Century of Simon Wiesenthal, The [1994]
18. Charlotte Gray [2001]
19. Children of Chabannes, The [1999]
20. Civilization and the Jews [1984]
21. Conspiracy [2001]
22. Counterfeiters, The [2007]
23. Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, The [2009]
24. Dear Mr. Waldman [2006]
25. Defamation [2008]
26. Defiance [2008]
27. Devil's Arithmatic, The [1999]
28. Diary of Anne Frank, The [1959]
29. Diplomats for the Damned [2008]
30. Drancy Avenir [1997]
31. Edges of the Lord [2001]
32. Ever Again [2006]
33. Everything Is Illuminated [2005]
34. Fate Did Not Let Me Go [2003]
35. Fateless [2005]
36. Forgiving Dr. Mengele [2006]
37. Frontline: Shtetl [1996]
38. Fugitive Pieces [2007]
39. Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The [1970]
40. God On Trial [2008]
41. Good Evening Mr. Wallenberg [1990]
42. Goodnight, Mister Tom [1998]
43. Hidden Child, The [2007]
44. Hidden Heroes [1999]
45. Hiding Place, The [1975]
46. Holocaust: Dachau and Sachsenhausen [2005]
47. Holocaust: Ravensbruck and Buchenwald [2006]
48. Holocaust: The Liberation of Auschwitz [2005]
49. Holocaust: The Liberation of Majdanek [2006]
50. Holocaust: Theresienstadt [2005]
51. I Have Never Forgotten You [2006]
52. I'm Still Here [2008]
53. Imaginary Witness [2004]
54. Incident at Vichy [2002]
55. Inheritance [2006]
56. Into the Arms of Strangers [2000]
57. Jacob the Liar [1975]
58. Jakob the Liar [1999]
59. Last Days, The [1998]
60. Left Luggage [1998]
61. Lies and Whispers [1998]
62. Long Way Home, The [1997]
63. Making Choices [1005]
64. Man in the Glass Booth, The [1975]
65. Massacre in Rome [1973]
66. Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz [1995]
67. Memory Thief, The [2007]
68. Miracle at Midnight [1998]
69. Miriam [2006]
70. My Heart is Mine Alone [1997]
71. Nazi Officer's Wife, The [2003]
72. Ninth Day, The [2004]
73. November Moon [1984]
74. Pawnbroker, The [1965]
75. Rape of Europa, The [2007]
76. Reader, The [2008]
77. Rose Garden, The [1989]
78. Rotation [1949]
79. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Rescuers[2003]
80. Secrets of the Dead: Escape from Auschwitz [2008]
81. Shadows in Paradise: Hitler's Exiles [2008]
82. Shop on Main Street, The [1965]
83. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days [2005]
84. Sophie's Choice [1982]
85. Steal a Pencil for Me [2007]
86. Triumph of the Spirit [1989]
87. Verdict on Auschwitz [1993]
88. Voyages [1999]
89. Watermarks [2005]
90. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? [1998]
Additions: Inglourious Basterds (2009)? does this belong - I think with an Oscar winning character called "The Jew Hunter", this dark fantasy warrants inclusion, though, of course,
the kicking shoe in this one was on the other foot
Of this list, I would definitely rank the films
Garden of the Finzi-Continis and
The Shop on Main St., also the Oscar-winning
The Counterfeiters.Note: Other films may belong here, some of these may not. I thought about Seven Beauties but since it was about POW's and not the holocaust directly, I didn't include it. The Night Porter was about the long-lasting effects of the war on a former prisoner and her torturer, brilliantly played by Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde, directed by Liliana Cavani, also not included above. I would also rank Nowhere in Africa (Oscar for foreign language film), about a Jewish mother who takes her daughter to Kenya to escape the war.
Dated Released : NOVEMBER 13, 2009
Dated Released : FEBRUARY 15, 2010
Dated Released : DECEMBER 18, 2009
Dated Released : AUGUST 28, 2009
