Once again, we were assigned with the blog topic of watching a World War 2 movie and blogging about it. I am going to keep this one relatively short. Kyle Cuddie, and I got together and watched God On Trial. The movie was only about an hour and a half, but it really got me to think.
The movie was a PBS movie and was almost in documentary format. The movie was released on November 9, 2008. The setting and plot are very simple.
The movie takes place in Auschwitz, the most famous Nazi concentration camp for Jews. The prisoners at the camp are utterly terrified, angry, hopeless, and confused. The men in the camp want to know why they were chosen. Why were they picked out of every culture? Why was God allowing this to happen? How could God allow the Nazis and Hitler to commit this atrocious genocide against the Jews?
It is with questions like this that causes the men to do the only thing that they feel can keep them sane and can justly decide who is to blame for their suffering. They put God on trial. The men gather in their block’s sleeping quarters and form their own little court. Among the men are scholars, professors, rabbis, and a judge. The judge assumes the role as judge while the other men play the various parts of defendants, witnesses, and prosecutors.
The men in the block ask various questions for anyone to answer regarding why they should be suffering and if God should be charged guilty for these crimes, and especially for breaking the Covenant between Himself and the Jewish people. The Jews believe tat they alone are God’s chosen people. Why would he allow his chosen people to suffer so?
As the movie goes on, more prisoners come and they are sucked into the prosecution. Some men are fervently faithful and defend God at every corner. Others are lost in their faith and don’t know what to think. And still others openly condemn God and rebuke Him for his unjust ways. The men know that half of them will most likely be killed the next day so the debate gets ever more heated.
I will not reveal to you if God was charged guilty or innocent. I really enjoyed the movie. It really made me think deeply about God and my faith even though I am no Jew. I cannot possibly begin to relate with those poor men and boys in the camp who suffered more than I can imagine and hope to never experience. I give the movie two thumbs up and recommend it to anyone who is looking to think and reaffirm their faith.
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