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Lenard (726 KP) rated Ask Dr Ruth (2019) in Movies

Jun 14, 2019  
Ask Dr Ruth (2019)
Ask Dr Ruth (2019)
2019 | Documentary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I grew up on Dr Ruth Westheimer. I wrote a book report on her autobiography in probably middle school. This is how influential she was during the 80s. The new documentary about her life released on Hulu and in select theaters quietly pays homage to this remarkable woman. Much like another short statured Jewish woman who received a documentary last year, Dr Ruth gave a voice to women and power to women in the bedroom. She made it okay to air your sexual problems and get a solution. For a generation, her humor and honesty turned a German girl who escaped the Holocaust and the 1948 Israeli-Arab War into a minor celebrity. I hope people can see this film and appreciate this trailblazer who tirelessly works for feminism (although she is not a feminist) and LBGTQ.
  
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Andy K (10823 KP) rated Shoah (1985) in Movies

Jul 20, 2018  
Shoah (1985)
Shoah (1985)
1985 | Documentary
10
9.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Unforgettable
Director Claude Lanzmann, who recently passed away at the age of 92, spent a significant portion of his life working on interviews, editing and putting together this immaculate epic masterpiece portrait of the Holocaust through the words of people who were there and lived through the torture.

I sobbed for days after watching the more than 13 hours of footage from the documentary and the DVD extras. Some of the descriptions and scenes were so moving I actually had to pause for a moment to collect myself before continuing.

I purchased when Criterion had one of their 50% off sales and it was well worth it. You will be changed forever as a person after watching this and you will start to think all your first-world problems are minuscule in comparison.
  
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ClareR (6054 KP) rated The German House in Books

Dec 30, 2019  
The German House
The German House
Annette Hess | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The German House is set in Frankfurt in 1963 at the time of the Auschwitz trials. Eva Bruhns is a 24 year old translator, and is asked to translate the testimony of the Polish speaking Jews who were imprisoned at Auschwitz. Eva was a small child during the war, and remembers little of it. She seems to be mostly concerned with her romance and possible engagement to Jürgen Schoorman, a wealthy businessman. However, when David Miller, a Canadian lawyer who is working for the prosecution at the trials, hires Eva as a translator, her world view and her opinion of her parents and the Germans involved in the war, changes. Her parents don’t want to talk about their involvement in the war, and Jürgen doesn’t think that she should be involved in something so distasteful. But this isn’t just a coming of age story. Granted, Eva does grow in this novel. She learns about the collective guilt of the German nation with regards to the Holocaust, and looks at how the children of the war generation reacted to something that was in effect hidden from them. They called it Vergangenheitsbewältigung - the struggle to come to term with and overcome the past. Young Germans wanted to analyse, digest and learn to live with the past, and the Holocaust in particular. Eva can’t understand why her parents will not own up to their share of the guilt.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was hard-going at times, and it did read like a translated novel. It did however, catch the spirit of the time. Eva’s longing to break out of the societal restrictions of the time (for example when she refers to how much she likes a new Beatles song that Jürgen can’t understand, he doesn’t like pop music) and Jürgen’s wish that she stops work as soon as she gets engaged (as a modern woman, I was positively fuming at this point!!).

I was fascinated by the trip the Court makes to Auschwitz - somewhere I’ve never been, and after a trip to Oranienburg (a camp for political prisoners outside Berlin), I feel that I would struggle to go. This was one of the most emotional parts of the book.

The side story involving Eva’s older sister is also fascinating, and I feel portrays the effect of seeing so much violence and hatred as a young child (no spoilers here!).

All in all, after I got used to the writing style, I really enjoyed this. It was an interesting insight into the post-war years, and West Germany’s reaction to the damage and destruction that the Nazis had caused during the Holocaust.

This is well worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and honestly review.