Review: Uwe Boll's "Auschwitz"
Seeing "Sucker Punch" later today, so until then...yeah...there's this movie.
Original Series
Paranoia
Welcome
Previously featured on YouTube before ultimately being ousted by the powers that be (those powers being the people behind "Nail Gun Massacre") thecinemasnob.com will
feature all of the Snob's videos, old and new, and also brand new shows and full length original movies for those of us who already can't get enough of Z-Grade Cinema.
Links
Mike Bracken
The Spoony One
Tenebrous Kate
Eccentric Cinema
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses
Cinemassacre
Revolving Video
Shaun Millington
Shriek Freak Arrow in the Head
Leslie Jones Blastoff Network
I Spit on Your Taste
Vault of Horror
Bloody Disgusting
Varied Celluloid
Patrick Rodriguez
Avante Garde Theatre
DjDaymage Halloween Mix
Cheap Arse Film Review
Forgotten Junk
Banned From the Video Store
The Experience Cinematic
Fistful of Cult
Video Hero's Hollywood Rant
The Horror Channel
Full Moon Reviews
SFHFF Review
The Spoony One
Tenebrous Kate
Eccentric Cinema
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses
Cinemassacre
Revolving Video
Shaun Millington
Shriek Freak Arrow in the Head
Leslie Jones Blastoff Network
I Spit on Your Taste
Vault of Horror
Bloody Disgusting
Varied Celluloid
Patrick Rodriguez
Avante Garde Theatre
DjDaymage Halloween Mix
Cheap Arse Film Review
Forgotten Junk
Banned From the Video Store
The Experience Cinematic
Fistful of Cult
Video Hero's Hollywood Rant
The Horror Channel
Full Moon Reviews
SFHFF Review
The Cinema Snob: Review: Uwe Boll's "Auschwitz"
BlogAds
Support
Help Support The Cinema Snob!
Unfortunately my page hates donate buttons and the link doesn't work, but if you would like to help out The Cinema Snob, my Paypal account is under thecinemasnob@yahoo.com
Unfortunately my page hates donate buttons and the link doesn't work, but if you would like to help out The Cinema Snob, my Paypal account is under thecinemasnob@yahoo.com
I bet you're gonna review Blubberella, now that's an Uwe Boll movie i actually wanna see!
Reply to this
Why dont you want to see the others. I would like to read more reviews of Bolls work though.
Reply to this
Boll said that Schindler's List and the like don't reach younger people in regard to the Holocaust and that, "Every German is obliged to ensure that the Holocaust is not forgotten." I guess he feels that direct shock value is what is needed to get through to people these days, not sure what that says about the generation...
Reply to this
Uwe Boll's "Auschwitz" otherwise known as the most awkward film ever
Reply to this
I'm interested to see what you think of Sucker Punch. All of my friends really loved it, but the rest of the world seems to have seen a totally different movie.
Reply to this
I'd still give this a watch just to see if I can tell if he was being serious or not. It does sound like he was generally sick to hear that younge people of today(I'm freaking 22) don't know squalt about what happened during WW2 so he's "trying"(infuciss on "trying" now) to egdicate them with something more than abunch of old degrated news footage. That said now I'm not sure myself how sensear he's being as his next movie I believe is Blubberella a parody style comedy about an overwieght chick fighting Nazis!
Now, that that's out of the way I'm curious of Sucker Punch! I didn'tget to go see it too broke so your review will have to do so don't leave any details out! The plot to me kinda feels like a bad idea! something about a movie where all the really cewl stuff in it isn't real in the movie itself isn't real! It's like that old tv copout of it was all just a dream! And that just sounds like it'd piss me off to see that!
Reply to this
I would deffinetly not call this film boring, I would more likely describe it as one of the most schocking holocaust-films ever made. I agree that the 'documentary' part with the schoolchildren might somehow feel strange but the camp-experience itself is rather disturbing and cinematographic interesting. But then again I saw it on the Berlin premiere still with it's soundtrack and I've heard the soundtrack was cut away after and is now shown.
Anyway, a couple of months ago I spoke Uwe about this film, if you're interested in the interview, you can check the link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDI8ZLrIePI
Reply to this
that interview told me alot he made Blubberella and this as it was convenyet because he was filming the 3rd Blood Rayne and had exstra time and a bunch of period clothing and good location so he filmed 2 other movies at the same time! it's like those exsploitation movies that are reviewed on here all the time some were made at the same time with the same cast just because they were there and it was cheap! I still don't like Boll but I admit I respect his penny pinching skills!
Reply to this
Offcourse it was cheaper because of the shootings of "Blood Rayne Part III" and "Blubberella" but it was much more cheaper to not shoot it since this film is his own private investment and commercially unattractive. I sincerely believe this film is Uwe Boll's good intent.
Reply to this
I'd still give this a watch just to see if I can tell if he was being serious or not. It does sound like he was generally sick to hear that young people of today(I'm freaking 22) don't know squat about what happened during WW2 so he's "trying"(envious on "trying" now) to educate them with something more than a bunch of old degraded news footage. That said now I'm not sure myself how censer he's being as his next movie I believe is Blubberella a parody style comedy about an overweight chick fighting Nazis!
Now, that that's out of the way I'm curious of Sucker Punch! I didn't get to go see it too broke so your review will have to do so don't leave any details out! The plot to me kinda feels like a bad idea! something about a movie where all the really cool stuff in it isn't real in the movie itself isn't real! It's like that old tv cop out of it was all just a dream! And that just sounds like it'd piss me off to see that!
Reply to this
The idea that high school students would know so little about WW2 baffles me. I can probably tell you more about WW2 than any other period of history, and for me that's saying something. Maybe only the USA likes to beat it's students with that information until their ears bleed.
Good luck with Sucker Punch.
Reply to this
It is not just the USA. In Germany you get pummeled with Nazi history for most of your time at school. You have your first history lessons in 5th grade where you learn about ancient history, medieval times and the renaissance all in the first year and then from the 6th grade till the 13th grade it is all about Nazis and the Holocaust. And it isn't just history lessons. There are social study lessons too in which you learn a bit about different political systems and different ways to vote and after that it is Nazis, Nazis, Nazis too. And then you can choose between a course called "Religion" or one called "Ethics" and in both it is all "Holocaust, Holocaust, Holocaust".
That is why it makes me angry to see shows like Family Guy or the Simpsons making jokes about how in Germany nobody mentions the Holocaust and the whole nation is trying to forget and to cover up the whole thing. That is as far from the truth as possible.
A British friend of mine who lived in Germany for a few years once told me how weirded out he was during his time here because basically everything seems to be about Nazis and the Holocaust, every theater play, half of the shows running on TV and so on.
And quite frankly, very often when I hear an American talk about WW2, I really wonder what they are actually teaching people over there. It almost seems as if most Americans (including relatives of mine) got all their knowledge about WW2 from Hollywood movies.
Reply to this
Interesting post. My question is do the German Schools also teach young German students about the Holocaust that was meted out to German civilians? How civilians were deliberated targeted by the RAF and USAAF? Pforzheim, a town famous for jewellery manufacture destroyed with 20,000 dead in 20 minutes. Dresden, Hamburg, Trier, over 12O cities and towns flattened and then the rubble was bombed and ploughed up again and again. Hitler WAS indeed a mass murdering war criminal, but so was Churchill and his criminal cohorts. Yes you are right when you wrote most Americans (and everyone else) get their WW2 knowledge from Hollywood movies. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a very elderly Frenchman who recalled the German occupation in WW2. He told me this "We French, of course, did not want this occupation, there were shortages of everything, but I can tell you this much. The German soldier was "correct" with our women. In this region (Sedan/French Ardennes)there were over 6,000 reports of rape from "liberating" US soldiers. There is always, in history, the other side of the coin. N'est pas?
Reply to this
Goddamn, American pronunciation of German words/names always crack me up. "Lenay Reyfenstall".
About the review: I don't think they is any footage of the gassings - and honestly I wouldn't want to watch it. So I think it's actually a pretty good idea just to show this industrial horror, and it's certainly something that hasn't been done in this way.
The interviews seem like a really bad decision though. he should have just made a short.
Also, I would be very interested how the education in America is about WW2, the Holocaust and Nazi-Germany, because here in Austria (and Germany too) it's done to death, and there are constantly movies about it in theaters and on TV, and a bunch of other stuff like memorials or exhibitions.
So it would be interesting to know how it is in other parts of the world.
Reply to this
Well, I was in middle school when they shown us a tape documentry that shown alot of the news footage from back then of the exstremelt emaciated people and pits of dead and burnt bodies! also every week on the History channel is something abt WW2 and the Halocaust! most the time it's on either Hitler himslef or the SS or a single group of people on either side of the war but there are normally alot on serten camps or person invalved! Even 1s on the Nazi doctors that ran to South America and the Mid East.
Reply to this
I graduated High School about 10 years ago. All though middle school and high school we touched on the holocaust each year in history class. We watched several videos, read several books, and on one occasion had an elderly concentration camp survivor speak to our class about their experiences (which was very chilling). The discussion on why it happened was always kind of simplistic, though, just focusing on general racism and scapegoating after Germany's depression.
I took German as my foreign language in High School, and one year we touched on the subject from the point of view of what it'd be like to be a young person living in that time and how easily you could have been swept up into nazism. I think having to look at it that way taught me a lot more in the long run.
So yea, the Holocaust is very well covered in US schools. However, compared to that, genocide in other parts of the world were pretty much glossed over in our history classes. Most of the less pleasant aspects of US history were pretty whitewashed as well.
Reply to this
Here in the US, the History Channel is often called the Hitler Channel. There is a LOT of stuff about WW 2 and Hitler and the Holocaust.
I'm 46, and when I was in the 7th grade, our geography teacher had a relative who was in one of the camps--I can't recall which. He used to talk a great deal of it, and I recall we had to watch the Holocaust miniseries for homework when it was on.
Reply to this
Wow! It's scary to think Boll would even touch such a subject. On another topic, I saw Black Dynamite on DVD from Netflix last night. I thought it was a masterpiece. However, I might not have understood it as well if it had not have been for your 2 Dolamite shows. But I have seen Three The Hard Way, Black Belt Jones. But have never seen a Chris Lee Fu Manchu movie. Maybe you should review a few for us?
Reply to this
Okay, this raises the question if Boll was actually trying, or just looking for attention...
If your Holocaust movie makes the audience want to laugh, it's usually not a good sign.
If you have to explain your message, that's pretty bad as well.
And what was this message anyway? The Holocaust was bad? No shit, Sherlock!
granted, he's right that many people aren't quite aware of it,
(prime example: A taiwanese commercial for radiator - starring Hitler: http://bobhonest.blogspot.com/2007/11/cold-in-taiwan.html )
but I think we should rather ask ourselves if we're aware of the atrocities that happened in other parts of the world either...Bokassa, Idi Amin, Taylor and many other dictators managed to stay "under the radar" for quite a long time, just because the rest of the world didn't really care.
Reply to this
Maybe it's just me, but I remember being force-fed WWII in every and all classes pertaining to history, and I only graduated high school in 2009. I really can't imagine students answering questions like this the way you said they were in this movie.
And good luck with Sucker Punch. I didn't think it was terrible. Directors need to ease up on the bullet time, and this movie really needed an R rating. It was only PG-13, and as far as I'm concerned, I can't handle a rating aimed at children.
Reply to this
I have to ask Brad, when he's talking to the students, are they US, or German students?
Reply to this
It seems to me that the more Uwe Boll "improves" as a director, the less watchable his films become.
If today's youth needs to be educated about the horrors of the Holocaust (and it would seem that they do), let's hope we can find a better person than the director of "House of the Dead" to do the job.
I think I'll skip this one.
Reply to this
Hi there.
First of all, depending in which school you go, you'll get stupid questions to history questions in Germany. I am German, I work as a tutor and hell, a student looked at me shocked when I talked about Gulf War. Both of them. And that there was a civil war Northern Ireland. They don't care and well, the teachers aren't supposed to push it anymore. So, yeah, those answers are possible.
I haven't seen the film, but read alot about it. Mainly that Boll wanted to sue the Berlinale (most important German film festival) for refusing to show this movie. They pretty much said it was a cheap movie with not enough substance and seriousness to it.
Reply to this
just watched I saw the Devil - holy shit this is the best movie for along time, I've giving up on hollywood.
Reply to this
Hey Brad, I saw a screening in Germany and can say that you're right with your assumption. His opening and closing speech varies in the two languages.
Reply to this
Wow. Uwe Boll takes the subject matter seriously, but still does things poorly. "Doctor" Boll, you are NOT the voice of the young generation, don't pretend you're doing that.
Reply to this
I don't know if anyone else thinks like this? I don't understand why any one makes serious or at least pseudo-serious fictionalised movies about the Holocaust. There is just so much documentary footage and so many interviews with survivors. All of it more powerful than anything even the best filmmakers could put out. Even Schindler's list is tinged with the same basic fault of stirring uncomfortable feelings. Are you supposed to be entertained or enlightened or are you supposed to be entertained and feel guilty about it? Is it just an Oscar grabber. It's like trying to enjoy a horror film with a friend who tells you his sister was stabbed to death. Watch Shoah instead you will learn something and not be distracted by thinking this or that actress is pretty or that Ben Kingsley is a fine actor.
The thing about the exploitation version of Nazis and films like Boys From Brazil is they're just genre movies with the same connection to reality as Friday the 13Th has to real life murder. And in all honesty I find that less uncomfortable/
Reply to this
Is the Cinema Snob a Hipster?
Reply to this
No. I am definitely not a hipster.
Reply to this
Very constructive review, bravo ^_^
What do Jews have in common with Canadians?.....They produce the best stand-up comedians.
Reply to this
This movie bookend sounds like if Uwe Boll directed Half Nelson.
Reply to this
I've yet to watch the movie, but I'll have to echo the other German speakers here in that we've been force-fed the topic of the 'Holocaust' during our equivalent of High School at least half a dozen times (and that's not counting extra-curricular activities like visiting concentration camps or watching stage plays or "Schindler's List" in movie theaters). Nonetheless, students giving these kind of answers really doesn't surprise me, certainly not in a bog-standard third tier high school.
Also, the mentioning of the name Mohammed in that regard to be with regards to Germany's exponentially growing Muslim community from whose midst up to 40% of youngsters in some of the country's larger cities come.
Reply to this
Of course Leni is a better director. She was a great director. She did much more than that one film, and it's not like we can't admire her work. Being as she was forced to make the Nazi film and all.
Reply to this
A concentration camp film made from the point of view of the guards... That sounds like something I would be very interested in seeing.
Reply to this
If you watch this movie in his original language german, you will see, that the kids from the beginning are Immigrants, which are going in a school, we call Hauptschule. This school is for kids, who cant speak german. In the movie, this kids build not even correct german sentences!!! In the end Boll went to a gymnasium, where only th ebest german pupils learn...
Reply to this
Generally not wrong, however, it is a BIT unprecise.
First at all, the Hauptschule ist NOT for immigrants/people who can not speak German. It is the "lowest" of the four different high schools the German school system knows. Once a quite common school for more practical jobs (like, lets say, craftsman), it is considered quite "bad" today, featuring high counts of immigrants and problematic pupils. The three other school forms are the Gesamtschule, the Realschule and the Gymnasium. Gesamtschule is some kind of mixed form, offering you a less sophisticated curriculum compared to the Gymnasium while still featuring a chance to make the Abitur, the German university-entrance diploma. Realschule and Gymnasium both have a more sophicticated curriculum, however, pupils of the Realschule have to switch to a Gymnasium after the 10th grade if they want to make their Abitur. While the Realschule is often considered to be a school for future skilled workers (like a master craftsman), the Gymnasium is the probably most accepted and accepted form of high school in Germany. Some time ago, in order to be allowed the study at the Gymnasium you had to pass an entry test - however, this is history for quite some years already. Today, it is the decision of the parents which form of high school their children are gonna go to, although the elementary school teachers will offer recommendation after 4th grade (last grade of elementary school).
Reply to this
Hey Brad, I have news for ya.
Uwe Boll was on your site and has watched this review.
What did he said about it? Only this: "TA-DA-DA-DUH!".
Reply to this
That's awesome!
Reply to this
I am convinced of one thing now: Uwe Boll is a troll. No two ways about it. The guy is doing all this for the lulz. He probably even goes on /b/ at the end of everyday just to brag about how much he is fucking with all of us.
Reply to this
Gemini:
>"Uwe Boll is a troll"
soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow...I knew that right after I saw "his" Dungeon Siege.
Reply to this
In case anyone cares, I can answer the 'Why are Jews stereotyped as good bankers today?" question. It had to do with, back in the middle ages or Renaissance the rise of the middle class started happening and more people had some amount of money. Well eventually this necessitated some level of banking. There was a problem in Christianity (possibly roman Catholicism specifically) where it was religiously unacceptable to handle the amounts of money that you would have to as a banker (I don't remember the exact problem). Jews did not have this problem, so they simply filled a void that could not be by anyone else. Then multiple generations and centuries later, I would hope any familial lines still doing it would be at least decent.
Yeah, we totally get hit by it nearly every year here in the US. And then a few more times if you take history in college. By college I was surprised to find I was the only one who knew before discussing it in class what "Operation Overlord" was. Part of the reason I knew that one so well was on of the first medal of honor games, where it was next to impossible (just like the real thing) to actually survive the beach landing. If you ever feel like your knowledge of stuff could be better and you like games, there are lots of WWII games to choose from. Some, like one of the company of heroes expansion you actually play as the Nazis. But you're just some of the regular actual fighting soldiers that may or may not have even known the holocaust was happening. In that part it covers Operation: Market Garden, which was one of the major losses for the allies.
Oh, and if you like metal music at all, go listen to Sabaton. Their stuff is basically all war/battle/whatever themed and alot of it ends up about WWII.
Reply to this
cmdx nz wupjmf
Reply to this
Hi!
Do you not think about the environment? Let's work on renewable energy?
What can you offer in terms of advertising?
Reply to this
I am sorry but I really can't find the whole interview thing believable considering my 14 year old sister knows more about the holocaust than those kids. I remember learning about all of that in middle and high school, it was the only part of history I was truly interested in learning about and I even did reports and essays on it while trying to find information on the internet and in books. The Holocaust is one of the more interesting things you learn about in history class so the fact that kids these days apparently don't know about this makes it seem very unbelievable. Although I do realize that their are alot of kids these days who don't really care about history but the holocaust is one of the more known about parts of history even if you don't pay attention when your learning it in school.
As for Uwe Boll I personally don't care for his movies so I haven't seen very many of them but of the ones I have seen I thought they were either just boring or just plain bad.
Reply to this
http://www.cinemablend.com/features/Uwe-Boll-Money-For-Nothing-209.html
Uwe Boll makes money by making movies that fail. He couldnt have made Auschwitz: The Comedy without getting into trouble, even if his goal was to make sure his movie stays out of theatres. So he used a good dose of shock value, to make sure theatre owners are like "oooh no, no way I can show thise".
Reply to this
You call yourself a Cinema Snob and use phraseslike "fucking boring" and "standoffish?" Bud, you're not a slob, you're an irrelevant idiot who should be sued for false advertising. YOur reviews are of the most labored and frustrating videos that appear here. Boy that emperor is truly naked.
Reply to this