''The Memory of Justice'' is a 1976
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
Marcel Ophuls. It explores the subject of atrocities committed in wartime and features
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
,
Karl Dönitz,
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
,
Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff,
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...
,
Albert Speer and
Telford Taylor.
The film was inspired by Telford Taylor's 1970 book ''
Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy'', and Taylor is interviewed extensively during the film. But Ophüls takes the book as a starting point for exploring the possibility of people judging one another, especially in light of their behavior in other contexts, as well as dealing with individual versus collective responsibility. The film discusses the notion that any group in power is capable of committing a war atrocity.
The film had a difficult genesis. It was originally financed in the summer of 1973 by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
, and a private company based in London, Visual Programme Systems (VPS), the latter of whom had wanted the film to dwell heavily on America's involvement in Vietnam and France's involvement in Algeria. The BBC and Polytel had invested on the basis of a three hour film however, after completing rough cuts, VPS was dismayed at Ophuls' work which ran to more than four hours (particularly his excessive leaning on the Nuremberg Trials and Nazi involvement) and tried to remove him as director.
organized a group of investors who were able to buy back the rights to the film from VPS and allow Ophuls to complete it.
The film was screened at the
, but wasn't entered into the main competition.
in 2015. This restored version was screened at the
in September 2015. and at the
in October 2015.