If we are talking about feats of filmmaking, look no further than Every Face Has a Name.
The Swedish documentary directed by Magnus Gertten was honored at the Gothenburg Film Festival and chronicles stories from a select group of Holocaust survivors shown in archival 35mm footage from their arrival in Malmo, Sweden in 1945.
The filmmakers managed to track down every individual that passed through the lens on that day in April 1945, a heroic group that includes Jews, Norwegian POWs, an Italian American, Polish mothers and children, British spies, and more.
Several individuals are profiled. Among them is Norwegian POW Svenn Martinson who was just 23 when he arrived in Malmo. Then there was Elsie Ragusin, an Italian-American who was on vacation in Europe with her father when they were arrested in 1941 and accused of espionage by the Germans. Many interviewees were able to look back on that footage and point out familiar faces among the refugees, often providing emotional, heartbreaking reminders of the turmoil they’d left behind.
Beyond its work in documenting essential human history and atrocities, the film is a testament to incredible research and licensing. The viewer is so engrossed in the powerful stories captured, they might not realize the incredible time, skill, and lengths the filmmakers took to make sure every face captured in that archival content from 1945 was cleared, not to mention their stories so expertly told. It’s not every day this line of work has such a noble end result, but the 76 minutes of Every Face Has a Name is just that.
Los Angeles
