#120 - Night and Fog (1955)

So, I'm going to Prom tonight! Hooray! I had so much fine at my own Senior Prom that I'm going to go to ever other Prom ever!!!

Or not.  I hate dressing up, hate large, social gatherings, and hate small-talking with a billion people.  So this year, I'm not getting that dressed up and I'm going to avoid as many people as possible.  That's the right attitude heading into Prom, right?

The only reason I'm really going is because this year's seniors were freshmen when I began my teaching career almost four years ago.  I have had a few students all four years I've been teaching (mostly due to the French classes) and I will be sad to see them go when they leave in a few weeks.  Also, I did get an invitation (apparently, not everyone does), and several of my students (and a couple of the girls on the tennis team) asked me earnestly if I were going to attend.  And so I relented.  But this year I'm taking a date! (No, not a man. My friend Steph Kaza who's teaching next door to me this year before she doesn't return next year because she's a long-term sub.)

In any case, before I got ready to go, I wanted to get a movie in, so I chose a very short one.

I debated whether or not to include this film in my list this year, and decided that, despite its less-than-feature-film length, it should be included because of its impact on film, its cultural significance, and for the simple fact that it is a documentary I've wanted to see for a while now.  Night and Fog (La nuit et la brouillard) is a French documentary about the beginnings of the concentration camps and imprisonment at the beginning of WWII.  The images of the camp are arresting, but juxtaposed with the combination serenity and somberness of the area today.

But it is the images of the dead and dying, emaciated to a point that seems well beyond that of being able to keep itself alive, that are the most horrifying.  In one second, these images expose the duality of the horror these people faced and the resilience of the human body and spirit.  Bony adult corpses weighing probably 50 pounds prove that the will to live has a capacity greater than that of the will of the Nazis to break their imprisoned down.

In other words, this was a singularly great film to watch before going to Prom.

Score: 9/10