what was that film again?

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

Niall Martin writes:
> While we're still agonizing over celluloid holocausts I wonder if there's
> anyone who can substantiate an episode which I'd assumed was common
> knowledge but now that I try to find a reference seems to have come over all
> phantasmagoric. I'm convinced that there was one famous auteur who actually
> followed the Allies into the death camps with the intention of making a film
> of Nazi War Atrocities (presumably government sponsored) but as the body
> count grew higher the project inevitably ground to a halt. I can still see a
> b/w photo of jeep with movie camera on tripod with its path literally
> blocked by a heap of bodies. 

I recall seeing an episode of the must see 1970s UK TV series `The
World at War' which covered the liberation of Belsen. Mervyn Peake was
one of several artists brought in to record the carnage - it appears
to be the source for some of the more gruesome scens in the third of
his Gormenghast books, Titus Alone. I recall not only footage of the
Allies clearing up the mess (especially a shocking scene with a
bulldozer piling the corpses 6 or 8 high) but also some story of a
failed/foiled attempt to provide a systematic celluloid account of
goings on in the camp. I also recall the program included testimony
from soldiers and doctors/nurses who tried to deal with the mess, most
of whom confessed to pretty much giving up in despair and horror. But
this is from over 20 years ago and I cannot be sure of any details.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.