''The Commandant's Shadow'' is a 2024

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed and produced by Daniela Völker. The film focuses on the story of Jurgen Höss, the son of

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

director

Rudolf Höss Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; ; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he w ...

, and his boyhood home life in the villa adjacent to it. The film also stars

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 17 July 1925) is a German-British cellist, and a surviving member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. Family Lasker was born into a German Jewish family in present-day Wrocław, Poland, then-Breslau, Germany. Sh ...

, an Auschwitz survivor who meets face-to-face with Jurgen Höss decades later. ''The Commandant's Shadow'' drew media comparisons to the 2023 film ''

The Zone of Interest Zone of Interest or The Zone of Interest can refer to: * Zone of Interest (Auschwitz), an area surrounding Auschwitz concentration camp * ''The Zone of Interest'' (novel), a 2014 novel by Martin Amis, named after the above * ''The Zone of Intere ...

'', a dramatization similarly focusing on the Höss family's life adjacent to Auschwitz. Snowstorm, Creators Inc., and New Mandate Films produced the movie.

HBO Documentary Films HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television network HBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries. The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year fo ...

and

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

acquired distribution rights in April 2024 with

Fathom Events Fathom Events is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events in movie theaters throughout the United States, including Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, the performing arts, major sporting events, and music concerts. The ...

partnering to give the film a limited release in the United States on May 29 and 30, 2024.

Reception

The film earned a score of 76 on critical aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on five critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" response. Nick Schager of ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' called the film "an overpowering work of excavation and confrontation—as well as a timely and urgent warning about the continuing threat of antisemitism." Leslie Combemale of the

Alliance of Women Film Journalists The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006. It is based in New York City and is dedicated to supporting work by and about women in the film industry. The AWFJ is composed of 84 professional female ...

wrote that "this documentary has such a powerful hold, it's hard to shake even days later."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Commandant's Shadow, The 2020s American films 2020s British films Documentary films about the Holocaust Cultural depictions of Rudolf Höss

Reception

See also

References

External links