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