''The 81st Blow'' ( he, המכה ה-81 and also known as ''The Eighty-First Blow'') is a 1974 Israeli

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Haim Gouri. The film covers the oppression of Jews under the Nazis and features rare historical footage of concentration camps. It was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

. The title is derived from a comment by a witness at Adolf Eichmann's trial. According to his testimony, he was whipped 80 times by the Nazis, but was not believed by Israelis after the war; this final doubt of his own people was the "81st blow". ''The 81st Blow'' is the first film in the Israeli Holocaust Trilogy by Bergman, Ehrlich and Gouri.Loshitzky, Yosefa; ''Identity politics on the Israeli screen''. 2001: University of Texas Press. It was followed by ''The Last Sea'' (1984) and ''Flames in the Ashes'' (1985).

References

External links

"The 81st Blow" - The full film is available on VOD
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the website for the Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque
* 1974 films 1974 documentary films Israeli documentary films Israeli black-and-white films Yiddish-language films Films directed by Haim Gouri Documentary films about the Holocaust {{Holocaust-film-stub