Review of Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust

An interesting look at the cinematic portrayal of the holocaust through the ages. The film is much more interesting in the first half when it deals with cinema that was contemporary to World War II. It is fascinating to see just how the Hollywood machine worked to portray controversial subjects and is one of the few times where the talking head narrators really added some insight into the conversation.

The majority of the rest of the film simply seems to be a bit too contemporary for a historical documentary. While its revelatory to hear of the public's reaction to The Great Dictator it is less interesting to hear how they reacted to Schindler's List or The Pianist simply because those two films are already heavily documented. Still it is an interesting film and worth watching just to see the films and newsreels of the 40s and 50s.