MAY 27 • 2021 | 39

F

inal Account grapples with a difficult 
question that the world has struggled 
to answer in the decades following 
the Holocaust: At what point does complicity 
turn people into predators?
The 90-minute documentary gathers the 
final remaining accounts of the last-living 
generation of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. 
It retells the stories of everyday men and 
women who grew up in Germany and joined 
the Nazi movement, many as youth or teens. 
Some held smaller positions, working as 
bookkeepers, while others rose in power to 
become high-ranking SS officers.
By examining tiny individual acts of con-
formity, the documentary paints a picture 
of how the mass movement came to power, 
quickly growing into an unstoppable wave. 
Directed by Luke Holland, who died shortly 
after filming was completed on June 10, 
2020, Final Account looks at authority, con-
formity, complicity, national identity and 
responsibility from a lens seldom seen.
The German-language British-American 
documentary, which was 10 years in the 
making, asks participants of the Third Reich 
to reexamine their actions, weighing out 
what they could have, would have done 
differently. Holland and his team press 
challenging topics in the highly candid inter-
views, going over often-unspeakable memo-
ries, perceptions and personal appraisals.
For many of the film’s subjects, who are 
now well into their 90s, looking back at 
their own role in the greatest crime against 
humanity in history is something few can 
readily face. Throughout the documentary, 
which moves at a fast pace with few breaks, 
we see denial, anger, bargaining and, in a few 
instances, acceptance. It’s an emotional watch 
that raises more questions than answers.

Some interviewees still choose to believe 
the Holocaust never happened, unable to 
face the actions of their homeland even 75 
years later. Others spend their final years 
educating youth about the dangers of com-
plicity, an effort to prevent history from 
repeating itself. It’s a stark juxtaposition, 
showing just how far people are willing to go 
to defend or condemn their actions.
The film is mostly talking. We see the 
subjects in their homes, often surrounded 
by relics of the past: old portraits on the 
wall, yellowed Nazi paperwork, some-
times even military medals (including the 
heart-wrenching skull and cross-
bones “death’s head” symbol). On 
first glance, these participants look 
like average civilians, no differ-
ent than any other elderly man or 
woman. It drives a crucial message 
home: Most participants of the Third 
Reich were everyday people.
While many Holocaust documen-
taries examine and remember the 
Jewish struggle, showing footage 
of concentration camps before and 
after their liberation, Final Account
takes the opposite perspective. It 
shows life as it was for German civil-
ians-turned-Nazis leading up to the 
war, often through enhanced color-
ized footage. They laugh, they play, 
they walk down the street with their 
friends. It’s hard not to lose yourself 
in the normalcy of it all, arguably 
one of the main points of the film. 
Very rarely do we see the war from 
this side, an eye-opening experience.
Final Account is a slow burn. 
Though it moves quickly at 90 min-
utes, the momentum steadily builds. 

It opens with the memories of several per-
sonal interviews, each vastly different from 
the last yet still somehow eerily similar in 
nature. We see how national identity, author-
ity and conformity pushed these individuals 
to comply with the horrors of the Holocaust, 
whether they became active participants or 
simply chose to stay silent about what they 
were witnessing.
The film also educates about lesser-known 
concentration camps and other crimes 
against humanity, using never-before-seen 
footage to connect how each action and 
event impacted the others, resulting in the 
overarching devastating force of the Third 
Reich. As it nears its last minutes, Final 
Account asks each participant whether 
they now believe, at the end of their lives, 
that they were guilty of contributing to the 
Holocaust. The answers are surprising and 
shocking.
 Some participants have accepted their 
roles. Others will defend Hitler’s actions to 
the grave. Though Final Account is not an 
easy watch, and one that can make viewers 
feel angry or confused, it’s an important 
reckoning of how far complicity, especially in 
mass form, can truly go. 

Final Account opened in theaters May 21. — 4.5 stars.

ARTS&LIFE
FILM REVIEW

At what point does 
complicity turn people 
into predators?

At what point does 
Final 
Account

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

