A People Uncounted
Reviewed by Claudia Taller
Last night, at the Cleveland International Film Festival, Paul and I saw the Canadian film A People Uncounted, which was haunting. Directed by Aaron Yeger, an acclaimed director, the film looked at the gross injustices against the Roma people, who migrated into Europe from northern India hundreds of years ago. They ended up in Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Germany, where they were persecuted because they were different and separated from the rest of society, which often took away livelihood and the ability to have happiness. Like the Jews, they were taken to the concentration camps in the 1940s and systematically exterminated, as part of the cleansing that Hitler and the Nazi regime claimed was necessary.
Interviews of Holocaust survivors, historians, academics, and social activists were woven through footage that included portrayals of the gypsies in popular culture and pictures of rows and rows of bunkers where the people uncounted were taken. We heard stories of the people’s treatment, including experimentation by Dr. Mengele and being forced into cannibalism. It is believed that 500,000 Roma people were exterminated, but the people remain uncounted. The survivors today are still marginalized—the film compared them to people in other cultures like African Americans.
The film suggests that human barbarities take place only when the people in the community allow them to and showed that ostracized people continue to be tortured and killed around the world. What happened in the 1940s can happen again. The Roma music, images, cinematography, and words of this film, against the musical score written by Robi Botos, were deeply moving and skillfully intertwined. The film left the audience silent with sorrow. The film leaves people changed.
A People Uncounted will also be showing on Wed 3/28 at 11:35AM and Thu 3/29 at 2:15PM. http://APeopleUncounted.com
Claudia Taller is the author of Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries and has been a Cool Cleveland contributor for many years. She helps writers and other creative people discover possibilities for their lives through Igniting Possibilities events, including Word Lovers retreats. She has written articles for numerous publications over the last decade and blogs at http://ClaudiaTallerMusings.blogspot.com. Her book can be purchased at http://OhioLakeErieWineries.blogspot.com and makes a perfect gift for history buffs and wine lovers.