Six Million and One (Fisher, 2011)

Last updated on: May 19, 2015 at 9:05 pm by Claudia Mundy

Six Million and One (Fisher, 2011) 2015-05-19T21:05:06-05:00 Claudia Mundy

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I can’t say from where the impulse stems, or precisely when the roots were seeded, but Holocaust literature, be it movie or film, has for some time now been a fascination. It may have occurred as early as fifth grade, when I read The Diary of a Young Girl. (I can still remember crying in the middle of Washington D.C. after finding out that the Anne Frank Museum wouldn’t be open until the day after we left.) At any rate, the stories have become a personal subject, books such as Night, Number the Stars, and The Devil’s Arithmetic come immediately to mind. Stories that seem so distant and yet hit so close to home.

Six Million and One is a documentary telling the story of four siblings coming to terms with their father’s past. And as much as history tells the story of a father, the story is about that of the children.

The documentary follows the group of four–Estee, David, Gideon, and Ronel– as they travel from the U.S. to the various concentration/internment camps in which their father was held. The group is seeking to reconstruct their father’s journey from camp to camp from what he wrote in his memoir.

The film is surprising in two ways–the first surprise is the film’s source of conflict.

You would think that emotional tension in this sort of film would surface in the form of extreme hatred toward the Gestapo. I imagined tempers flaring and angry outbursts as the siblings would curse whoever was responsible for taking years of their father’s life. I imagined moments of quiet intimacy as each sibling would break from composure, the weight of history having pulled them down.

But this wasn’t the case–not in the slightest. The documentary’s main strain, in fact, is tension between the siblings themselves. Each Fisher sibling is in a different stage of the grief process. David, the oldest, and also the only one of the four to have read the entire memoir, aware of what’s coming–knows in advance of his father’s experience. Whereas the other siblings are seeing their father’s life unfold before them for the first time.

Ninety percent of the movie is in a language other than English, so if subtitling isn’t your thing, then this movie may not be for you. But, however, if you can overcome the trials and tribulations (yes, sarcasm) of using sight instead of sound as your primary means of understanding, I think you will come to appreciate the layer of elusiveness that seeing a movie in another language conveys. The language barrier creates an air that’s almost fitting for the subject–an event intrinsically elusive, a part of history we won’t ever come to fully understand even after having read memoirs, even after visiting the camps.

The film moves from Gusen II, where their father worked in the Bergkristall camp, digging a tunnel so large that airplanes might be, and were, built within, to Gunskirchen–where U.S. soldiers eventually arrived to liberate the camp.

The second surprising aspect of the film is the insight given into the role of Americans as “liberators” of the camp. David Fisher–sibling, writer, director, and producer of the film–interviews an American soldier who arrived at Gunskirchen toward the end of the war–inadvertently liberating those within the fence. When I think of the “American liberators” or “America as a liberator” don’t you get this image of soldiers marching into enemy territory, riding in on tanks, armor shining, the forces surrounding the camp and forcing German surrender? This is how I always pictured America’s liberating the camps… The movie challenges this notion, and explains that the Allied forces couldn’t, even if they were told in advance what they were coming to, have conceived of the horrors that they saw.

It seems multiple generations–regardless of ethnicity and nationality–are still working to come to terms with and give words to an experience so unreal that it defies human emotion. How do you deal with loss? How do you deal with pain? If these are questions you are currently asking yourself, regardless of your interest in World War II or Holocaust literature–this movie is one you can learn from. The Fisher family gives a beautiful example of the healthy way to deal with life after death.

The film releases January 27 on iTunes, Amazon Instant, Vudu, XBOX, PlayStation, Google Play, and YouTube.

—

Claudia Mundy is a Campbell University graduate. She is a writer, a reader, and a runner. You can follow her on Twitter at @ClaudiaMundy.

Reviews

David Fisher

Six Million and One

Previous Post

January 26, 2014

Spider-Man 2 (Raimi, 2004) -- 10 Years Later

Next Post

February 1, 2014 The Thin Place #44: Two Views of Wall Street

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

This shortest book in the Old Testament prophesies judgment on Edom for violence against Judah. How many verses does it contain?

Select your answer to see how you score.

30 verses 12 verses 21 verses 15 verses