About The Last Days (1998)

Explore:

• About
• Making / Production
• Actors
• Trivia / Interesting Facts
• Awards
• Quotes
• Music
• Soundtrack

About

The Last Days is a documentary film released in 1998. Directed by James Moll and produced by Steven Spielberg, the film focuses on five Hungarian Holocaust survivors and their accounts of life in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Through their testimonies, the film portrays the horrors endured by the victims and highlights the importance of remembering and learning from the past.

The Last Days provides a deeply moving and personal perspective on the Holocaust, showcasing the resilience and strength of those who survived. It serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during this dark chapter in history.

Making / Production

The Last Days was produced by the Shoah Foundation, created by Steven Spielberg after the release of his film Schindler's List. The foundation aimed to collect testimonies from Holocaust survivors and create educational materials to ensure the preservation of these stories for future generations. The Last Days is one of the many projects undertaken by the Shoah Foundation to fulfill this mission.

Actors

• Bill Basch - Survivor, shared his experiences as an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
• Helen Zanowski - Survivor, shared her journey through various concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
• Alice Lok Cahana - Survivor, depicted her time in Auschwitz and the death march to Mauthausen.
• Renee Firestone - Survivor, discussed her experiences as a young girl in Auschwitz and during the death marches.
• Tom Lantos - Survivor, a congressman who recounted his survival in Hungary and escape from a forced labor camp.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• The Last Days won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1999.
• The film was originally intended to be a short documentary, but the survivors' stories were so compelling that it expanded into a full-length feature.
• Steven Spielberg personally selected the survivors featured in the film after reviewing hundreds of testimonies.
• The Last Days was praised for its raw and authentic portrayal of the Holocaust survivors' experiences.
• The film served as a powerful educational tool in classrooms, spreading awareness and understanding of the Holocaust.

Awards

The Last Days won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1999.

Quotes

• "The Nazis wanted us to feel that we're animals, but the Jews had to prove that they're human beings." - Bill Basch
• "I became a number and I became no one." - Helen Zanowski
• "Hope is what really kept me alive." - Alice Lok Cahana
• "We need testimony, we need that evidence." - Renee Firestone
• "The message is simple: Remember." - Tom Lantos

Music

The Last Days features a haunting and emotionally powerful soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer. The music enhances the film's atmosphere and reinforces the emotional impact of the survivors' stories.

Soundtrack

• "The Last Days" - Hans Zimmer
• "Auschwitz-Birkenau" - Hans Zimmer
• "Death Marches" - Hans Zimmer
• "Resilience" - Hans Zimmer
• "Freedom" - Hans Zimmer