Alain Resnais' "Night and Fog"

October 3, 2011 5:40 AM

Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (1, 2, 3)

There are those who look at these ruins today
As though the monster were dead and buried beneath them.

Those who take hope again as the image fades
As though there were a cure for the scourge of these camps.

Those who pretend all this happened only once,
At a certain time and in a certain place.

Those who refuse to look around them,
Deaf to the endless cry.

posted by Trurl (12 comments total)

A movie everyone should see. Thanks.
posted by Cerulean at 6:22 AM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

agreed. a genuinely important film.
posted by facetious at 6:35 AM on October 3, 2011

I really don't think a movie with imagery as striking as this really gets its due on a low-bitrate rip that someone stuck on YouTube. It's currently available from the Criterion Collection (as the titles on the first part indicate) and should be streamed from Hulu Plus or rented on disc from Netflix (or whatever they're calling themselves today.)
posted by beaucoupkevin at 6:50 AM on October 3, 2011 [4 favorites]

Yes. A hell of a movie.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:56 AM on October 3, 2011

I watched most of the films about the Holocaust on the old tv, it's about the same quality. I don't think the message suffered from that. Human mind aptly provides missing details even when it is reeling from them at the same time.
posted by hat_eater at 6:57 AM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's also that thing where we should support the companies that actually do work hard to restore and put out good work instead of someone who copied a movie and stuck it up on YouTube to get ad revenue.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 7:07 AM on October 3, 2011 [5 favorites]

FFS what an odd derail.
posted by odinsdream at 7:08 AM on October 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's also that thing where we should support the companies that actually do work hard to restore and put out good work instead of someone who copied a movie and stuck it up on YouTube to get ad revenue.

Yea, fuck that asshole.
posted by Cerulean at 7:13 AM on October 3, 2011

I was just considering showing this to my (mature) eleven year daughter the other day. Obviously, it's pretty horrific, and that gives me pause -- but, if you're going to ever show your kids something horrifying, I guess Night And Fog is arguably a 'good choice'.

I think it might make a great double-bill with Triumph Of The Will: show her the pageantry, the masses, the spectacle and the speeches, and then whammo - here's the outcome of all that consent-building.
posted by stinkycheese at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2011

I was just considering showing this to my (mature) eleven year daughter the other day.

My Hebrew school showed it to us when we were that age - so it's "educator approved", I guess.
posted by Trurl at 9:49 AM on October 3, 2011

The French teach this in schools, but I think in high school. But Criterion still has the distribution license for the film--why is this on YouTube?
posted by Ideefixe at 12:34 PM on October 3, 2011

I was supposed to watch this (presented as Nacht und Nebel, natürlich) with a friend of mine some years ago, but when she reached into the case, the DVD split neatly in half. Guess it wasn't the right time to see it, mm?
posted by lumensimus at 3:02 PM on October 3, 2011