The Basics: Subtitled
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial 1963-1965, this is a three-hour documentary about one of the pivotal war crimes trial of the 20th century. Lasting two years, 360 witnesses (211 of them survivors of Auschwitz) from 19 countries testified against former members of Hitler's SS, who were on trial for mass murder during World War II and who had, strangely, not fled the country. Many of them had simply gone back into civilian life and made nice careers for themselves.
What's the Deal? People who pay attention to the many Holocaust-themed documentaries that get released won't be surprised by the discussion of hideous atrocities that comes up during the archival footage used to create this movie — in fact, it's almost entirely period audio testimonials and interviews with news footage from the time — but newcomers to anything but safely fictionalized dramatic representations of the Holocaust (Schindler's List, Life Is Beautiful), people who think they've learned everything they need to know about that part of the last century, are going to have their eyes opened for maybe the first time.
Why Freedom Writers Isn't Farfetched at All: There's a scene in that movie where Hilary Swank asks her students if they've heard of the Holocaust. None of them have. I used to be a teacher myself, and the same thing happened to me. None of my students had ever even heard of Adolph Hitler. That's what's going on in schools. So if you think this sort of thing is too tough for kids to watch, you're right. But you ought to show it to them anyway.
What You Learn From Watching It: That human beings are pretty much capable of doing anything to each other. It's the kind of movie you want to force crazy people like Mel Gibson's Holocaust-denying father to watch.
Further Viewing: See the 1980s documentary Shoah. It's nine hours long (yeah, that's not a typo), but it's essential.