The Tattooist of Auschwitz

We all know of the horrific events of Auschwitz, the trauma, the brutality and the unbearable suffering. We've seen the footage, the photos, the documentaries, the tv shows and the movies which depict all of the above. This show chooses to showcase a PG version of these horrors in what can only be described as a jumbled mess of production across the six episodes. The unconvincing lead although being Slovakian sounding like he's come straight from Cambridge, who looks immaculate for the majority of his time at the camp (seriously looked as though he has his uniform washed & pressed each day) fails to capture the reality of the situation. Time is also an issue. The show fails to portray the longevity of the suffering of the prisoners and how this factors into the story. This is conflicted by the sudden rush at in the final episodes where time becomes an urgent factor. The biggest confusion is - for the most part - the unnecessary need for the jumps between present to past as rather than enriching the events became more of a distraction. This is further heightened by the need to show the (older) lead having different accounts of the events in the camp. It would have had more meaning if it was solely from his perspective, but as the show jumps around with implied events of the other characters throughout just distracts further. Why Melanie Lynskey was cast was a strange choice and her Aussie accent even more peculiar. The show spends its entire run dipping in and out of events, cherry picking elements from characters to situations without seeing any of it through. Even the brutality of the camp seems piecemeal as a reminder rather than an actual reality. Harvey Keitel as the older Lale Sokolov is remarkable and Anna Próchniak's portrayal as Gita is not only remarkable but the only reason you have to watch the show through to its conclusion.

This is a fine series recounting the horrors of the nazi death camp, auschwitz. The story is told by Lali Sokolov, played in old age by Harvey Keitel who is recounting his story to budding Australian writer Heather Morris played by Melanie Lynskey. It tells us how Lali became the Auschwitz tatooist which means he tatoo's the prison number on the arm of all new arrivals. In doing this he meets Gita, Anna Prochniak, and they immediately bond so he then seeks her out in the femail quarters where their relationship develops. As the tatooist has relative freedom in the camp, with even his own room, an SS officer, Stefan Baretski played by Jonas Nay is appointed to supervise him. This, for me, was one of the most fascinating aspects of the story. A strange relationship develops between captive and captor. While Baretski demonstrates his evil side with violence and killing, including beating Lali occasionally, he is clearly not a happy soldier and uses Lali as an emotional crutch. To show a slightly more humane side to his character he often enables private meetings for Lali with Gita. While auschwitz is shown as an evil place with frequent views of the gas chambers and incinerators, I still think that life for the average prisoner was much worse than portrayed here. However this is a disturbing and also moving watch which I highly recommend. In an era when 'Nazi' and 'Fascist' is frequently used to tarnish people for simply having a different opinion, often by people who should know better, this serves as a reminder of what Nazism and Fascism really is.

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