First of all, I totally agree with the Polish criticism on displaying the wrong map. But secondly, this documentary is still highly interesting in multiple ways.
When the trial starts, it is clear that it becomes a total 'show' proces - and it makes you think whether that's fair. It was a trial by media. He was found guilty already, before he could actually defend himself. During the hearings, Iwan the Terrible was convicted. But as a watcher you realize that John might become the final victim of Iwan the Terrible if he is indeed mistaken for him.
The convict of the first judge is highly remarkable. They declare him guilty, only based on 45-year old memories of people who point at someone in the context of public camera's right after they have been asked to re-tell their deepest trauma. There were no controls and no independent archive digging into the past of John. It seemed like that nobody even asked what historians can accurately say about Iwan the Terrible, including his possible fate. It again makes you think about it - realizing that anybody with photograph resemblance of known Nazi's could have been found guilty over there.
Finally, the 5th episode wraps the story up. It feels like the documentary makers didn't had any money left and decided to combine the appeal and the next 30 years, including more trials, within 50 minutes. A guy in a library strongly claims that John was at Sobibor, but no evidence or confession is being showed. Not even further explanations on what his actual actions over there should have been. Maybe he was just the gardener, for instance.
At the end, when John just naturally dies while the world was still arguing about him, you still don't know what have really happened.
When the trial starts, it is clear that it becomes a total 'show' proces - and it makes you think whether that's fair. It was a trial by media. He was found guilty already, before he could actually defend himself. During the hearings, Iwan the Terrible was convicted. But as a watcher you realize that John might become the final victim of Iwan the Terrible if he is indeed mistaken for him.
The convict of the first judge is highly remarkable. They declare him guilty, only based on 45-year old memories of people who point at someone in the context of public camera's right after they have been asked to re-tell their deepest trauma. There were no controls and no independent archive digging into the past of John. It seemed like that nobody even asked what historians can accurately say about Iwan the Terrible, including his possible fate. It again makes you think about it - realizing that anybody with photograph resemblance of known Nazi's could have been found guilty over there.
Finally, the 5th episode wraps the story up. It feels like the documentary makers didn't had any money left and decided to combine the appeal and the next 30 years, including more trials, within 50 minutes. A guy in a library strongly claims that John was at Sobibor, but no evidence or confession is being showed. Not even further explanations on what his actual actions over there should have been. Maybe he was just the gardener, for instance.
At the end, when John just naturally dies while the world was still arguing about him, you still don't know what have really happened.
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