There is no correct way to deal with a crime against humanity on the scale of the Holocaust. A sinister plan as vast, meticulous, and cruel as the methodical slaughter of a people takes many willing hands to perpetrate and implies complicity no matter what claims of propaganda or acting according to duty the guilty party might proffer in their defense. In which case, what justice can really be found? Can you legitimately punish every person that served in the Nazi regime? Could you ever hope to track down every foot soldier who ever took an order from their Fuhrer and never asked a question? Quite simply, no. Elusive Justice: The Search for Nazi War Criminals discusses this impossibility at length with survivors of the Holocaust, with opinions on the subject ranging from cries for vengeance to a resignation that no amount of retaliation or punishment will ever set things right. It’s a harrowing feature-length documentary that asks many ethical questions, many of which don’t really have answers in an imperfect world.
“Vengeance is a means to do justice.” The quote can be interpreted as either a very vindictive statement, but the means by which the concentration camp survivors achieved their revenge vary from one to the next depending on their own personal code. For a few, simply turning over the war criminals they captured wasn’t enough, for them, blood was the only payment. If you’d watched your friends, family, and fellow man be massacred for a selfish ideal, it’s hard to say if you could restrain yourself from doing the same. The journey to track down former Nazi soldiers that scattered to the winds around the world is a fascinating story, and the story of how many (though still a small fraction) were brought to pay for their crimes makes Elusive Justice a documentary worth watching.
DVD Bonus Features
None.
"Elusive Justice: The Search for Nazi War Criminals" is on sale December 27, 2011 and is not rated. Documentary. Written and directed by Jonathan Silvers. Starring Candice Bergen.
