Shoah: The Four Sisters

Lanzmann's documentation of witness testimony comes to a close, succeeding across various works in illuminating many of the dimensions of the Final Solution, though the task ultimately appears infinite. Here, the continuing underlying anguish felt by the four women is palpable, as they portray with stark clarity the horrors and dilemmas they faced and experienced. That three of the four went to Israel and knew immediately that they would spend their remaining life there is a significant aside.

It might seem unfair to criticise it for lacking the ambition of Shoah, which is surely the most comprehensive documentary ever made on the subject. It's clearly an extension of that experience, but it plays like an extra feature rather than a standalone work. Even when taken as part of a larger film, the political act of documenting the traumatic experiences of Holocaust survivors for the ages seems less vital than it did in Shoah, largely because of its reduced scope and sense of repetition.