The Unknown Soldier
by Michael Verhoeven
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Michael VerhoevenDirector: Michael Verhoeven
Brand: First RUN Features
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); German (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
Movie Reviews of The Unknown Soldier
Movie Review: Free at last
Summary: 5 Stars
Until the full extent of German complicity--civilians and soldiers included--in the atrocities of WWII are revealed this nation will never be free from the considerable shame wrought by this time period. We should keep in mind too, though, that there were German resistance fighters and that most attempts on Adolf Hitler's life were committed by German citizens/military.
"The Unknown Soldier" is a particularly disheartening documentary on the 1995 Wehrmacht exhibition that took place in Vienna (and opens periodically every year those who care to take a look) which reveals pretty clearly that all members of the German army were either aware of or took part in the atrocities and mass shootings of civilians usually relegated to the SS or the Gestapo.
The obvious place of the Holocaust in the German psyche is shown very clearly as people outside the exhibition shove each other around, scream, and passionately debate about the accuracy or non-accuracy of the material presented in the exhibition. At one point a group of nearly toothless skinheads and right wing nutcases show up flying the Iron Cross and insisting that the whole thing is nonsense and that "the press lies".
Not so, it seems. Four German historians, sensitive to the subject matter, uncover photographs of ordinary German soldiers standing next to executed jews (one photograph of a three year old jewish girl hanging is vomit worthy) and make it fairly clear that all German soldiers, Wehrmacht included, were given explicit instructions that they carried around on the Eastern front to shoot any of the "rabble" they encountered. An aging member of the Wehrmacht admits very frankly that Hitler's "Mein Kampf" captivated him for a time, and that he witnessed more than a few atrocities committed by the army. He also says very clearly that is ashamed of what he did and witnessed, and seems sincere.
What has long been suppressed is that German soldiers *were not* executed for refusing to participate in these atrocities; they were disciplined or were asked to work in different capacities. This has long been known by historians but has never been given as explicit treatment as in this documentary. And some Germans did just that; dropped out of the army entirely once that they saw what was going on.
This is not about all Germans being monsters. Very soon this entire generation will die off and I think Germany should be commended for being so conscientious of these things, unlike some other nations who did very similar things and have never apologized once. This is depressing and I would not watch it again, but is very important. Recommended to any student of history.
Summary of The Unknown Soldier
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