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United Kingdom, Austria, Poland · 2015
1h 30m
Director David Evans
Starring Niklas Frank, Philippe Sands, Horst von Wächter
Genre Documentary
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Nazi Governors and consultants to Hitler himself, Hans Frank and Otto von Wächter were indicted as war criminals. While researching the Nuremberg trials, human rights lawyer Philippe Sands came across two men who re-focused his studies: the sons of Frank and von Wächter, who hold polar-opposite views on the men who raised them.
From the outset, What Our Fathers Did doesn’t have much narrative thrust. The film makes it clear that it is more interested in the process than any end goal. But the process of what exactly is a question that gnaws unanswered for the first third of the documentary.
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
The conclusion suggests the film exists to affirm the preconceived desires and perceptions of its makers.
Despite a melodramatic title, the film is keen and measured. Drama builds in the small moments.
Screen International by Fionnuala Halligan
A Nazi Legacy – What Our Fathers Did comes to a climax in Lviv, but the film is a layered examination of brutality, self-deception, guilt and the nature of justice which is compelling throughout.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
What begins as a friendly trip grows increasingly tense as the men visit sites of mass murder.
The New York Times by Ken Jaworowski
While these men aren’t accountable for the actions of their fathers, they are obligated to recognize the truth of what happened. To see one of them deny that truth is difficult to watch, and just as hard to look away from.
Los Angeles Times by Martin Tsai
Sands' scripted narration sounds detached and dissociated from the grief, frustration and anger he sporadically displays.
There’s a rigidity of purpose here that keeps A Nazi Legacy from ever becoming startling or revelatory.
In the film’s most visceral scene, as the trio stands on the site of a mass grave in Lviv, Ukraine, von Wächter still can’t bring himself to admit his father’s direct culpability.
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Let the festivities begin.