{"id":94558,"date":"2024-01-05T13:55:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T20:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=94558"},"modified":"2024-01-05T17:30:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T00:30:44","slug":"night-and-fog-1955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=94558","title":{"rendered":"Night and Fog (1955)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[<strong>Note:<\/strong> The following review is of a non-Peary title; click <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/reviews\/?page_id=4388\">here<\/a> to read more.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Death makes his first pick. Another choice is made in the morning, in the night and fog.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster-212x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-94559\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster-90x128.png 90w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster-191x270.png 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Poster.png 651w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nUnflinching footage from WWII concentration camps is contrasted with peaceful scenes of the same spots years later.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alain Resnais Films<\/li>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Nazis<\/li>\n<li>World War II<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThirty-two-year-old Alain Resnais directed this short documentary made ten years after Nazi concentration camps were liberated. It&#8217;s likely not included in Peary&#8217;s <em>GFTFF<\/em> simply due to its length (only 32 minutes long), given that it otherwise meets all criteria for a must-see film &#8212; not just for movie-lovers but for all of humanity. If you haven&#8217;t seen this film yet, stop and go do that now (it&#8217;s easily available on YouTube) &#8212; and then you will likely want to read more about its construction and reception. In doing so, I learned quite a few things, including the following: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Resnais made this film on the condition that someone who had actually experienced the Holocaust &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean_Cayrol\">Jean Cayrol<\/a> &#8212; write the screenplay. <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Night_and_Fog_(1956_film)\">According to Wikipedia<\/a> (drawing from a 2007 book on the film by Sylvia Lindeperg):<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The film draws on several sources, including black-and-white still images from various archives, excerpts from older black-and-white films from French, Soviet, and Polish newsreels, footage shot by detainees of the Westerbork internment camp in the Netherlands, or by the Allies&#8217; &#8216;clean-up&#8217; operations, plus new color and black-and-white footage filmed in 1955 at concentration camps. Resnais filmed his color sequences in Eastmancolor rather than <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Agfacolor\">Agfacolor<\/a>, using the footage to contrast the desolate tranquility of several concentration camps \u2014 Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, Struthof, and Mauthausen \u2014 with the horrific events that occurred there during World War II, to muse on the diffusion of guilt, and to pose the question of responsibility.&#8221; <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>One particular still in the film &#8212; showing a French gendarme cap on a guard overlooking a camp &#8212; was obscured in earlier versions but restored for the DVD version.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"995\" height=\"725\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-94565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat.png 995w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat-300x219.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat-768x560.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hat-371x270.png 371w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0048434\/trivia\/?item=tr0668230&#038;ref_=ext_shr_lnk\">IMDb&#8217;s trivia page<\/a>:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The then Federal German government intervened successfully to prevent the film being shown at the Cannes Film Festival on the grounds that the festival&#8217;s regulations prevented any film being shown that would cause offense to any participating nation. Ironically, the director of the Berlin Film Festival lobbied hard for the film to be shown at his festival.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An indescribably potent fusion of horrific footage and commentary<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1002\" height=\"729\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-94564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up.png 1002w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up-768x559.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Hands-Up-371x270.png 371w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"993\" height=\"721\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-94566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day.png 993w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day-768x558.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Night-and-Fog-Modern-Day-372x270.png 372w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 993px) 100vw, 993px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jean Cayrol&#8217;s narration (read by Michel Bouquet)\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes; this short film should be seen by all humans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0048434\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/330684\/night-and-fog#articles-reviews?articleId=1267567\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.criterion.com\/current\/posts\/4154-night-and-fog-the-never-ending-cries\">Criterion Essay<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Note: The following review is of a non-Peary title; click here to read more.] &#8220;Death makes his first pick. Another choice is made in the morning, in the night and fog.&#8221; Synopsis: Unflinching footage from WWII concentration camps is contrasted with peaceful scenes of the same spots years later. Genres: Alain Resnais Films Documentary French Films Nazis World War II Review: Thirty-two-year-old Alain Resnais directed this short documentary made ten years after Nazi concentration camps were liberated. It&#8217;s likely not&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=94558\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-missing-title-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94558"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94573,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94558\/revisions\/94573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}