Projecting the Holocaust into the Present The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema

Most Holocaust survivors and scholars contend that the event was so catastrophic and unprecedented that it defies authentic representation in feature films. Yet it is precisely the extremity of the "Final Solution" and the issues it raised that have fueled the cinematic imagination. Recognizing that movies reach a greater audience than eyewitness, historical, or literary accounts, Lawrence Baron argues that they mirror changing public perceptions of the Holocaust over time and place. After tracing the evolution of the most commonly employed genres and themes in earlier Holocaust motion pictures, Baron focuses on how films from the 1990s make the Holocaust relevant for contemporary audiences. He discusses significant forgotten films such as The Search, Martha and I, Mendel, and Triumph of the Spirit, as well as movies about non-Jewish victims and children. To convey the significance of the Holocaust to generations born after it happened, Baron covers movies like Max, The Grey Zone, Nowhere in Africa, and The Pianist, and analyzes the use of the Holocaust as a plot element in action-adventure fantasy movies like X-Men. The book concludes with a user-friendly thematic bibliography, filmography, and Internet reference guide. Book jacket.

Lawrence Baron is a history professor at San Diego State University