Into the Arms of Strangers

Mark Harris

It is a mark of how strongly Errol Morris' school of documentary filmmaking has had on the American documentary that talents like Morgan Freeman (who narrated Harris' first documentary) and Judi Dench (who narrates this one) are willing to lend their considerable speaking talents to documentaries where they are given so little air time. Morris showed us the power of the unnarrated documentary three decades ago in The Gates of Heaven, and has continued that trend throughout. And the strongest documentaries of the last decade have all had the same basic premise—let those who made the story tell it, and let them stand or fall on their own. It works to hilarious ends in such films as American Movie and Mule Skinner Blues, and to heartbreaking ones in Shoah. Harris twists the formula a tad by adding basic narration, but letting interviewees fill in the gaps.

I wanted to see more. The story of the Kindertransport is one largely unknown in America (and largely forgotten in Germany and England, the two ends of the metaphorical railway); while there is undeniable power in letting the Kindertransport participants themselves tell their stories, the events themselves demand a bit more explication. Lanzmann was able to use a non-narrative technique in Shoah because the events depicted therein were at least partially well-known by the time he filmed; the Kindertransport is a story that could use a lot more fleshing out from an historical perspective.

Not to say that it's a bad documentary; what's here is definitely worthwhile viewing, and probably deserving of its Best Documentary Oscar. It just could have been twice as long and achieved even more power than it did.