Mark Reviews Movies: FROM WHERE THEY STOOD

From Where They Stood, Greenwich Entertainment

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 14, 2022

Director Christophe Cognet takes on the role of a detective in his documentary From Where They Stood. The case involves clandestine photographs taken by prisoners in Nazi concentration and death camps. His goal is to assemble as specific a story as possible about the details of when, where, under what circumstances, and how those photographs were taken, by visiting the remnants of those camps, speaking with historians and archivists, and finding the exact spot of these few but vital first-hand documents.

That aim is noble, to be sure, and even necessary. Those photos—captured in unthinkable conditions and with incredible courage in acts of resistance, as well as revealing the truths of the horrors and mass murders perpetrated by the Nazis—tell a story that constantly needs to be told. If there's one worthy takeaway of Cognet's movie, it's that the filmmaker does—often and with patience—allow those photographs to speak for themselves.

As for the director's participation in the stories of these pictures, it's sometimes too minimal, often too much of a distraction, and generally approached without a clear method in mind. Most of the time, Cognet primarily seems interested in establishing the locales from where the photos were taken, the landmarks that are featured in them, and the broad timeline and time of day that these brave photographers risked their lives to show what was happening in these camps. The people behind and in front of the camera, whose stories are usually relegated to on-screen text, often come across as a second thought in the filmmaker's approach.

Cognet visits the sites of multiple camps, including Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald, where the foundational outlines of barracks and gas chambers remain, while pits where bodies were burned are still scattered with bone fragments. There's a particularly haunting opening shot of a pond, and as Cognet tours other cremation pits, we figure out the reason for the existence of that body of water.

With the help of various experts at the memorials and archives established at these sites (speaking in scholarly tones that add an unfortunate distance to the inherently horrific nature of the subject matter), Cognet examines the photos and begins the search for the exact spot where they were taken. The most striking tactic performed by the filmmaker involves glass plates with those photographs printed on them. Upon finding the exact location and angle of the camera, he lines up those plates where the lens would have been, and the result—of seeing those images of buildings and prisoners superimposed upon the current ruins and some passing tourists—is undeniably haunting.

From Where They Stood, though, too often wanders through or around its purpose. Meanwhile, the method of Cognet's goal is intrinsically focused upon the particulars of space and time within the camps, leaving the human story in the backdrop.

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