Film Review - The Auschwitz Escape(2021)

From the opening shots of The Auschwitz Escape the viewer is made painfully aware of what sort of film they are about to experience. A film that will not hold our hand, nor will it fear the subject matter that it has tasked itself to retell, it will show you the face of one of history’s darkest moments in grim detail.

These horrors are fully realised in certain moments, what truly strikes through is the apparent non-exceptionality of some of the terrors. Nude corpses piled high elicit no reaction from our protagonist and an especially repulsive scene featuring prisoners buried to their necks while a high ranking officer caves one of their skulls in, all to a scene of disconcerting calm.

One of the opening shots of the film is seeing our protagonist hanging from the front gates of the camp serving as a warning for those who dare attempt an escape. It’s a painful yet efficient shot to sink home to the viewer that this is why they must run and this is what the stakes are.

However due to the film’s potentially accurate assumption that an audience member would instantly connect with a story of two men attempting to escape hell, the film forgoes much characterisation of the two protagonists. They spend much of the first third of the film hiding in a small space while the Nazi guards search for them. Dialogue is non-existent in this section, which despite being an understandable artistic choice, it feels as if we are squandering an ample opportunity for us to really get to know who these men are.

We instead spend a good portion of the story with those left behind, as they are tormented, berated and beaten by the vicious Hersek. The performances of the prisoners led by Juzek were subtle, quiet and often heartbreaking. As they are forced to stand outside in rows until someone gives up the location of those who fled, the abject hopelessness of those left behind is gut-wrenching. Everytime the film attempts to give these men a glimmer of hope, it is snuffed out moments later. When a Polish man believes he has witnessed his daughter shot before him, his comrades reassure him that it couldn’t have been her because the woman killed was a Slovak. This slither of hope is dashed when another man reminds the group that if she was not in the camp, odds are that she was already dead.
In the time we spent with these characters it felt that we truly got to know them better than we do those we are supposed to be following, so when the film transitions from Barrack Nine’s plight to snap back to Freddy and Walter’s escape, it almost feels as if we are watching two films.

Where the film really shines is through its technical elements, the subtle artistic choices of colour, the snow painted orange and the endless white of the sky make for striking images. Or it’s creative use of silence and framing paint bleak pictures and are commendable. However where the film really dips its toe into the astounding is with the various use of its cameras. Be it the highly meticulous one-shot of the processing of the new arrivals into the camp or the frequent disorienting use of filming things upside down. The greatest example is the pursuit style of camera work that gets more erratic the more exhausted Freddy and Walter through their journey of crossing the border. Giving us a brief window into what these men must be feeling as they brave the central European winters in hostile territory.

Once they arrive in Slovakia, the film unfortunately grinds to a halt and the tension suddenly dissipates. Thanks to the kindness of strangers they achieve their goal of presenting their evidence of the camp’s extermination of Jews to a member of the Red Cross. The scene is interestingly enough performed in English with a surprise appearance by John Hannah, as they discuss the Red Cross’ misinformed grasp on the severity of the situation. Though the actors should be commended for giving such memorable performances in a language that is not their own, the choice to have much of this meeting take place in one shot is the first technical misfire. The actors occasionally stumble over their lines and small mistakes in the blocking which regrettably breaks the immersion.

The film then fades to black to provide us with the terrible facts and statistics that are a staple of historical dramas and after a crushing scene with Juzek being sent to be gassed, the film ends. The ending is so sudden and surprising that it leaves the viewer feeling a little deflated, though the film didn’t necessarily feel too short, the ending just felt rushed.

The Auschwitz Escape was for the most part a challenging, bitter piece of filmmaking that will sicken you to your stomach while also breaking your heart. Though it’s lack of focus prevents it from truly reaching its full potential. While the ending’s suddenness was jarring, perhaps that was the point, that this film, much like the story of the camp, doesn’t have a happy ending, it merely has an ending.