20 - 26 JAN 2024

As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, the week preceding it has several films and documentaries of interest. It presents a welcome opportunity to highlight them and support this act of remembrance.
SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993) Sunday 21 January 11.00pm-1.05am BBC 2             
Without a doubt, the two best directors in American cinema since the mid-1970s have been Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg. If it is possible for Mr Spielberg to have a ‘masterpiece amongst masterpieces’ Schindler’s List would be it. It was, and remains, a remarkable achievement. In 2024, I am of a mind to suggest that the United States will never produce anything this good again, but let’s appraise Flowers of the Killer Moon first. Incidentally, back in the day, distributing copies of Schindler’s List to UK schools was a brilliant idea.
THE LAST SURVIVORS (2019) Monday 22 January 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4             
This very special documentary has been shown before, but it is well worth seeing again – and, if you haven’t seen it, it is a privilege to watch it for the first time. Director Arthur Cary spent a year tracking some of the child Holocaust survivors, thus giving them the opportunity to share their memories with us.
REVENGE: OUR DAD THE NAZI KILLER (2023) Tuesday 23 January 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4    P             
It would be easy to believe that most stories have been told by now – but the Storyville documentary team appear to have unearthed a gem. Three brothers in Australia discover that their father, who had fought as a partisan during the Second World War, might have then led a vigilante group during peacetime.
JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961) Thursday 19 January 10.50pm-1.45am BBC 4             
Producer/director Stanley Kramer had his detractors over the years, but his work earned 16 Oscars and over 70 other award nominations and cinema would have been the poorer without him. This superb drama holds the attention for three hours and there isn’t a weak link in a cast that includes Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Widmark and Burt Lancaster. At the top of the acting tree, however, is Spencer Tracy. There is a scene early in the film where he just takes a walk and it is mesmerising; as for the end, where his speech clocks in at over 13 minutes, Robert De Niro would need three films to come even close.