This film tells the story of the heroism of inmates in Auschwitz, but is also very brave

"Sabotage" (here 11) tells the story of the women who smuggled gunpowder to the Sonderkommando men, who used it to blow up the crematoria.

Through animation, excellent editing, a dizzying pace and a clever and rich combination of images, he also manages to deal in an original way with the challenges of representing the Holocaust.

Nadav Menuhin

28/04/2022

Thursday, 28 April 2022, 07:06 Updated: 07:31

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Excerpt from the documentary "Sabotage" (here 11)

"What is the moon if not a dead star that has no light of its own? Who can think, from looking at the cold figure of the moon, that it borrows its radiation from the hot, blind sun?" Writes Anna Weisblum, an Auschwitz survivor, in her diary.

"And a word? Is it just a reflection of an act? Can a word faithfully represent the act? No. Never. That's why I know in advance that everything I write will be just a collection of words, understood only by those who have seen and survived."

Weissblum's clever words open the excellent docu-series "Sabotage", directed by Noa Aharoni ("Dr. Rudy: The Naked Truth") and aired last night here as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day broadcasts. One of the crematoria in the camp, although a specific affair unfolds - but as these words illustrate, it also tries to deal with the challenge of representing the Holocaust, and with the failure of the words and images to express the unspeakable.

for further reading

• A new dimension for commemorating memory: the folk dance following the chilling story of the Holocaust survivor

• The series "As long as in the heart" invites viewers to feel comfortable with the embarrassment

• The secret to improving your sex life - now on a special sale

A heroic and forgotten affair.

From "Sabotage" (Photo: Corporation here, courtesy here 11)

The protagonists of the film are Weissblum and her sister Esther (Estosia) - two Jewish girls from Warsaw who lost their entire family and came to the women's camp in Auschwitz during the war.

There they are selected to work in an ammunition factory for the Nazi machine.

Among the workers in the group were those who identified opportunities to sabotage the German war effort - to confirm defective goods, and also to bravely smuggle the gunpowder from the factory to the Sonderkommando workers, who were entrusted with the horrible craft of burning the bodies of those killed in the gas chambers.

Weisblum and her sister also take part in this forgotten heroic affair.

But after the Sonderkommando uprising, which took place a few weeks before the camp was liberated, the Nazis identified the source of the gunpowder used in the blast, and executed by hanging four prisoners they identified as involved in the act, including Esther.

The animation allows for detailed reconstruction and at the same time distance, alongside a certain freedom.

From "Sabotage" (Photo: Corporation here, courtesy here 11)

As fascinating as the story is, and including interesting characters, suspense and huge drama, Aharoni faced a dilemma that has preoccupied filmmakers and philosophers since World War II: how can, if at all, depict on screen the inconceivable reality of concentration camps in a way that does not turn it into a kitsch show Or vulgarity.

Similar to some works from recent years (e.g. "The Liberator" on Netflix), the director chose to deal with this problem through animation, created by Avi A.

Katz: A tool that also allows for the reconstruction of the events narrated in detail and at the same time from a distance, but also gives a certain freedom to present poetic thoughts and feelings, and even a bitter macabre irony.

An example of such a poetic performance comes at one of the most touching moments in the film - the same moment when the protagonist says goodbye to her sister who is led to the gallows, when in the illustrated picture dance shoes are added to her.

At the beginning of the film we are told that Esther was a dancer before the war, and now, in the last moments and in a place that has erased her identity and dignity,

More on Walla!

The murder of the children, the hiding in the village and the lost songs: the secrets of a "Jewish boy", the forgotten ghetto anthem

To the full article

Rich and clever mosaic.

From the movie "Sabotage" (Photo: Corporation here, courtesy here 11)

The film is not content with this, but provides the viewer with a rich vortex of images, along with the animation, the plot is also led by footage of women who survived the inferno, narration of translated passages from the diary, and a few illustrative archival videos from before and after the war.

This mosaic is not only rich, but also clever: the animation allows the hard evidence to get a simple illustration, but the consistent return to the face and names takes care of blocking the return and distance created by the illustrations, reminding again and again that these events really happened to real people.

This is joined by the dizzying and uncharacteristic rhythm of the genre in which the film takes place - a rhythm that serves the story and the tension inherent in it well.

This is mainly thanks to excellent editorial work that connects the many testimonies and voices left to tell the story.

It also has to do with time: the film lasts about an hour, and has no meager moment, and on the other hand it refuses to be smeared beyond necessity or to indulge in epic pretensions.

So "Sabotage" is an interesting film both in terms of what and how, and in any case is a lesson in daring - first and foremost of the heroines from the women's camp, but also of a director who is not afraid to engage in an original subject so charged.

• culture

• TV

• direct watch

Tags

• Auschwitz

• The Holocaust

• Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Day