This film is fascinating, profound and moving. It raises important moral issues and shakes many conventional beliefs.
How should we view crimes committed by our parents and ancestors? At what point do our ancestors' acts forfeit our natural (and culturally-encouraged) love for them? Should we even face the facts of their choices and lives? The documentary addresses these issues in the starkest case: by speaking with the relatives of men who committed the worst of crimes. These children and grandchildren bear the family-name of their infamous ancestors while not accepting and, in some cases sharply repudiating, the legacies of those ancestors.
Modern society washes away what happened last week, let alone by the last generation. So the current inclination is to simply forget about the past. Yet when the past was atrocious, forgetting it is wrong. At the least, we owe victims of atrocities remembrance of their history and their suffering.
This movie should be seen by more people. To understand our present, we need to grapple with our past, including the ugly parts.
How should we view crimes committed by our parents and ancestors? At what point do our ancestors' acts forfeit our natural (and culturally-encouraged) love for them? Should we even face the facts of their choices and lives? The documentary addresses these issues in the starkest case: by speaking with the relatives of men who committed the worst of crimes. These children and grandchildren bear the family-name of their infamous ancestors while not accepting and, in some cases sharply repudiating, the legacies of those ancestors.
Modern society washes away what happened last week, let alone by the last generation. So the current inclination is to simply forget about the past. Yet when the past was atrocious, forgetting it is wrong. At the least, we owe victims of atrocities remembrance of their history and their suffering.
This movie should be seen by more people. To understand our present, we need to grapple with our past, including the ugly parts.