Claude Lanzmann's nine-and-a-half-hour 1985 epic Shoah--its title is
the Hebrew word for "catastrophe"--is the distillation of more than 350
hours of film gathered over 11 years. It tells the story of the
Holocaust through interviews with the survivors, bystanders, and
perpetrators. In 2000, the Guardian film critic Derek Malcolm called
it "one of the most remarkable films ever made." It has also provoked
debates about the very possibility of Holocaust representation. Sue Vice
provides a devoted study of the film, discussing the problematic role of
Lanzmann as the director and the numerous controversies and conclusions
that Shoah has produced. Some of the topics she covers are: Lanzmann
as filmmaker, mise-en-scène, Lanzmann as interviewer, the ethics of
filming, testimony, and more.