Night and Fog (1955 film)

Plot

Night and Fog is a documentary that alternates between past and present and features both black-and-white and color footage. The first part of Night and Fog shows remnants of Auschwitz while the narrator Michel Bouquet describes the rise of Nazi ideology. The film continues with comparisons of the life of the Schutzstaffel to the starving prisoners in the camps. Bouquet then addresses the sadism inflicted upon the doomed inmates, including torture, scientific and medical "experiments", executions, and prostitution. The next section is shown completely in black-and-white, and depicts images of gas chambers and piles of bodies. The final topic of the film depicts the liberation of the country, the discovery of the horror of the camps, and the questioning of who was responsible for them.

Background and development

From 1954 to 1955 a number of activities took place observing the tenth anniversary of the liberation of France and of the concentration camps. One of these was an exhibition curated by Olga Wormser and Henri Michel, Resistance, Liberation, Deportation, which opened on November 10, 1954 at the Institut Pedagogique National (National Teaching Institute) in Paris. The exhibit was based on Michel and Wormsers monograph which had appeared earlier in 1954 in a special issue of Revue dhistoire de la Deuxieme Guerre mondiale. The first public notice of a proposed film project was given during a radio broadcast on November 10, 1954, the opening day of the exhibition.

Although Michel was under pressure from veterans organizations to create a film document that would honor French Resistance fighters, Wormser argued for a scholarly approach that would show the concentration camps as a systematic microcosm of the German war economy. Michel recognized that this approach would enable broader financing, and both re-envisioned the film as "communicating historical research through contemporary media." Initially Michel thought the film could take the form of a montage of news reports. But as a result of the exhibit Resistance, Liberation, Deportation, both he and Wormser had received many items created by former inmates during their internment, making Michel and Wormster believe that a unique perspective would be created by providing an inside view of the camps. "The genocide of the Jews was treated in French remembrance as more of a side issue—something that was in any case supposedly a matter for the Jews themselves and not for the majority of society. Michel and Wormser might have wanted scholarly objectivity instead of the heroism favoured by the deportees association...but nevertheless the Holocaust had remained a blind spot even for them."

Film producers Anatole Dauman, Samy Halfton and Philippe Lifchitz were invited to this exhibit and felt that a film should be made on the subject. Anatole Dauman, originally from Warsaw, undertook the production for Argos Films and arranged for co-financing by Films Polski, the Polish state production company. Dauman approached filmmaker Alain Resnais who had experience with documentary films since 1948. Resnais turned down the offer for over a week, feeling that only someone with first hand experience of concentration camps should attempt the subject matter. Resnais eventually agreed, providing that poet and novelist Jean Cayrol, who had been a concentration camp prisoner, would collaborate on the project. Resnais officially signed his contract for the film on May 24, 1955. Cayrol had written in 1946 about his experience as a survivor of Mauthausen in Poemes de la nuit et brouillard ("Poems of night and fog"), which gave the documentary its title. For Resnais, the film was meant to showcase a warning that the horrors of Nazism may be repeated during the Algerian War where torture and internment were already under way.

The film was commissioned by two organizations, the first of which was the Comite dhistoire de la Deuxieme Guerre mondiale (Committee on the history of the Second World War), a government commission assigned the tasks of assembling documentary material on, and of launching historical inquiries and studies of, the period of the French occupation from 1940 to 1945. The other commissioner was the Reseau du souvenir (Network of memory), an association devoted to the memory of those deported to camps. A pre-production meeting was held on May 28, 1955, during the course of which it was decided "to explain clearly how the concentration-camp system (its economic aspect) flowed automatically from fascism". The films working title, Resistance and Deportation, was also changed to the French translation of the German term Nacht und Nebel (Night and Fog), which described handling of World War II prisoners according to a decree promulgated by Himmler on December 7, 1941. This decree provided that those resisting the Reich, arrested in their own countries, but not promptly executed, would be deported to camps in such a way that they would vanish without a trace, "into the night and fog".

The title takes on yet another level of meaning a quarter of the way through the film, when Hanns Eislers chilling score that has accompanied images of deportation is disrupted, as the train arrives at Auschwitz. The narrator observes that during the train ride "death makes its first choice" and "a second is made upon arrival in the night and fog." The visuals cut to a shot of trains arriving in night and fog, which has become a metaphor for the mystery of their situation.

Evolving structure of the film

Michels and Wormsers 1954 exhibit Resistance, Liberation, Deportation was organized in 11 parts:

1. The convoys.
2. Arrival at the camp and quarantine.
3. Daily life; atmosphere in the camp, the locations and camp sites, the schedule, hygiene, diet, a typical day.
4. Work in the concentration camps, chores, factory work, secret war factories.
5. Social categories in the camps, the SS, prisoner administration, the slaves.
6. The permanence of humanity, spiritual life and resistance;
7. The sick bay: the anteroom of death, medical organization, the camp pathology, human experiments.
8. Death: the last station, "natural" death, induced death, massive exterminations.
9. The camp evacuations and their liberation.

This was adapted into seven parts for the first draft of the film (dating from late February/early March 1955):

1. Departure and arrival of the transports.
2. Planning and organization of the camp.
3. Sketch of the everyday life of a deportee.
4. Work in a concentration camp
5. Sick bay and death.
6. Escape and resistance.
7. Liberation, return, reintegration and commemoration (pilgrimage to the camp).

The outline of the film changed dramatically when in April 1955, Wormser and Michel went to Poland to attend commemorations for the tenth anniversary of Auschwitzs liberation. They wanted to include film of how Auschwitz was currently seen. Additionally they were approached by Auschwitz museum staff supplying additional documentation and images. Visiting Poland gave Wormser and Michel the opportunity to make contact with Polish archives. The result was broadening the scope of the film away from a nationalist view toward a broader European perspective.

Once Resnais joined the team, a new script (dated June 11, 1955) emerged with twelve sections:

1. The camp, deserted in 1956 (mixture of the four camps).
2. An "algebraic" history of Nazism.
3. Himmlers visit to Dachau. All is in place. The mill stars to grind bones.
4. The convoys.
5. Arrival at the camp.
6. Quarantine. Daily life.
7. The locations of the camp.
8. Himmlers second visit. Continuation of the history of Nazism.
9. The proliferation of the system.
10. The techniques of extermination.
11. The evacuation of the camps. What the Allies found.
12. The Auschwitz Museum. The lesson to be learnt.

Filming

The film draws on several sources, including black-and-white still images from various archives, excerpts from older black-and-white films from French, Soviet, and Polish newsreels, footage shot by detainees of the Westerbork internment camp in the Netherlands, or by the Allies "clean-up" operations, plus new color and black-and-white footage filmed at concentration camps in 1955. Resnais filmed his color sequences in Eastmancolor rather than Agfacolor, using the footage to contrast the desolate tranquility of several concentration camps—Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, Struthof, and Mathausen—with the horrific events that occurred there during World War II, to muse on the diffusion of guilt, and to pose the question of responsibility.

The film also deals briefly with the prisoners conditions, and shows disturbing footage of prisoners and dead victims in the camps. While Night and Fog states that the Nazis made soap from the corpses, giving the possible impression that this was done regularly, this claim is nowadays considered as untrue, with the exception of possible isolated cases. Researching the film was difficult for Resnais, who would have nightmares from filming and found himself waking up screaming in the night. These nightmares passed as Resnais began actual filming in Auschwitz.

From the September 29 to October 4, 1955, Resnais and his crew filmed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. From there, scenes were shot at Majdanek from October 7 to the 10th. For the archival material, Resnais had to use black-and-white footage, but did not receive any from English, German or French military sources. Some of the stock footage in the film is from Michel and Wormsers exhibit. Other stock footage is from the Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdokumentatie (National institute for war documentation) in the Netherlands, and from French television, Gaumont Film Company, and the association of former deportees.

Cayrol was aided by mutual friend and film maker Chris Marker while writing the commentary that was spoken by actor Michel Bouquet. After viewing the images in the editing room, Cayrol became sick to his stomach and was unable to write further. Markers contribution was to adapt the written text to the rhythm of the images in the film. While editing the film, Resnais felt a feeling of general discomfort, stating that he "had scruples, knowing that making the film more beautiful would make it more moving - it upset me".

Scoring

Originally Wormser and Michel had wanted to use the song "Chant des Marais" (Peat Bog Soldiers) as a recurring leitmotif, as it was an authentic prisoner song. Resnaiss presence on the production team changed the idea to have an originally-composed score. It was Chris Markers suggestion to approach Hanns Eisler, to which Resnais agreed after hearing a recording of his music. Although he was concerned that the composers fee would put the film over budget, the producer Dauman was supportive. Eisler was invited to compose the music by Argos Films on October 18, 1955 offering 200,000 francs and help in obtaining a visa to enter France. Resnais also sent Eisler a "lyrical" letter. In what Resnais considered a stroke of luck, Eisler opened the letter in the presence of Vladimir Pozner, who was familiar with Resnais and urged Eisler to accept the offer immediately. Eisler agreed to do it by telegram on October 25.

Eisler arrived in Paris on November 30, 1955. In a letter to his wife Louise he wrote:

The film is grandiose, horrible, showing monstrous crimes...regrettably, the film people here are putting me under pressure to finish the whole thing in ten days even though the film is barely finished. I hope I can get it all together. Im living here like a monk, I go to bed at 8 in the evening, eat and drink very little and dont feel at all at ease in this giant city with all the responsibility for the film.

Recording took place on December 19, 1955. Sound editing was completed on December 24, 1955.

The overture in the score had been written before Eisler was offered work on the film. It had been written for Johannes R. Bechers play Winterschlacht (Winter Battle) which had its premiere on January 12, 1955. Eislers inspiration for this piece was Horatios monologue from Hamlet which Eisler had read in Karl Kraus Weltgericht. Eisler later reworked the overture into his song Monolog Horatios (Hamlet). Eisler considered the possibility of conceiving of his music to Night and Fog as a separate orchestral work, although this never came to fruition. He reused portions of the music for his incidental music to The Days of the Commune (Die Tage der Commune) and William Tell (Wilhelm Tell).

The score was published for the first time in 2014 as part of the Hanns Eisler Gesamtausgabe.

Post-production and censorship

After the film was complete, producer Dauman told Resnais that he was "delighted to have produced the film", but that he guaranteed that "It will never see a theatrical release". In December 1955, French censors wanted some scenes cut from Night and Fog. The end of the film shows scenes of bodies being bulldozed into mass graves. These were considered too violent to be allowed in the film.

Another point of contention was that Resnais had included photographs of French officers guarding a detention center, operated by the Vichy government and located in central France, where Jews were gathered before Deportation. This scene prompted a call demanding that the shot be cut because it "might be offensive in the eyes of the present-day military". Resnais resisted this censorship, insisting that images of collaboration were important for the public to see. When Resnais refused to cut the scene with the officer, the censors threatened to cut the last ten minutes of his film. Finally in compromise, Resnais stated that obscuring the scene wouldnt change the meaning of the film to him, and he painted a beam that obscured the distinctive kepi the officer was wearing. In exchange, Resnais would be allowed to show the bodies at the end of the film. The censored scene was restored to its original form for a 2003 DVD release.

The second attempted censorship of the film was the huge scandal when the German embassy in France asked for the film to be withdrawn from the Cannes Film Festival. The French press reacted against the proposed withdrawal, noting that Cayrol and Resnais were very cautious in defining the difference between the Nazi criminals and the German people. Articles were written in French magazines including Liberation and LHumanite, protesting any censorship of the film at Cannes. One of the few writers who supported the withdrawal, Jean Dutourd, felt that Auschwitz and other concentration camps should be forgotten.

Release

A local association of former deported prisoners insisted the film be shown at Cannes, threatening to occupy the screening room in their camp uniforms unless the festival showed the film. On 26 April 1956 the film was announced to be shown out of competition at Cannes. Night and Fog was shown in commercial theaters in Paris, in May 1956. The film was awarded the Jean Vigo Prize, a French award for young filmmakers.

Critical reception

The film received very high acclaim in France on its initial release. Jacques Doniol-Valcroze wrote in Cahiers du Cinema that the film was a powerful work comparable to work of artists Francisco Goya and Franz Kafka. French film critic and director Francois Truffaut referred to Night and Fog as the greatest film ever made.

Modern reception has also been positive. Todd Gitlin describes it a, "an unbearable apotheosis of desolation that speaks to the necessity of our making a mental effort to grasp what is impossible to grasp—a duty that has been imposed upon us by history."

The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 14.

Ironically, as Nitzan Lebovic pointed out, the film was not received as well in Israel; Resnaiss universalist approach drew some criticism that reached the Israeli Knesset (the Israeli parliament), immediately after its arrival, in 1956. A political debate opened around the film, dividing supporters and opponents between religious and secular, Ashkenazi and Sepharadi, right wing and left wing, or–as Lebovic showed–between centrists and radicals from both ends of the political map. A centrist demand to ban the film resulted with a small and a limited release until the end of the 1970s.

In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Night and Fog the fourth best documentary film of all time.

German versions

On June 29, 1956 a contract was signed between Argos Films and the German Office for Press and Information (West Germany) to produce a German language version of the film. Jean Cayrol wished that Paul Celan serve as translator. Despite alterations requested by the German Federal Press Office, Celan refused to change the text. Celans translation was recorded by narrator Kurt Glass in Paris on October 26, 1956.

Although shown in during the Leipzig Film Week in November 1956, Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA, in East Germany) accused Celan of mistranslation—a pretext for creating a version of the text in line with the communist ideals of East Germany. Upon realization that Film Polski owned the distribution rights to the film for the Eastern Bloc, DEFA went ahead and produced a German-language version with a translation by Henryk Keisch, recorded by Raimund Schelcher. Argos Films dissatisfaction with DEFA and Film Polskis action led to non-renewal of the films license, resulting in this version of the film shown only between 1960 and 1963.

In 1974, Night and Fog was telecast in East Germany in a series "Films Against Fascism." A new German translation was wanted, but as the film elements were unavailable, a new audio track was created. Evelin Matschke wrote the text, basing it on the French audio track, which was read by Erwin Geschonneck. Manfred Grabs (of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, where Eislers manuscripts are held) prepared new performing materials. The orchestral score was recorded by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (East Berlin) with Eugen Schneider conducting.

Home media

Night and Fog was shown on French television as early as April 26, 1959. On May 10, 1990 a Jewish cemetery at Carpentras was desecrated and the body of a freshly buried man, Felix Germont, impaled on a stake. Response was strong to this act, including having Night and Fog broadcast on all three of the French national television channels at the same time. The film has been shown as a teaching tool in schools in France since 1991.

Alan Pakula studied Night and Fog when he was writing the film adaptation of Sophie’s Choice, William Styrons novel about a Polish-Catholic survivor of Auschwitz.

A DVD of Night and Fog was released by The Criterion Collection on June 23, 2003. It restores the scene of the French officer that was censored in France on the films initial release.