Displaced

Khethiwe Shobede is less than impressed with a documentary on the Holocaust

Displaced is a documentary film directed by Sharon Ryba-Kahn centred around the experience of a third-generation survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and the difficult conversations that still surround the topic. While this exploration of people’s experience of memory and genocide is an interesting and insightful ‘idea’ for a documentary the film itself fails to deliver. It does ask important questions about the effects of the Holocaust three generations after the actual events took place.

I found myself losing interest at times due to the film’s slow pace where frames had little action and should have been shortened. The introduction of characters in the films is poor and you often don’t know who they are until sometime into the conversation which reduces their significance in the story. The establishing shots don’t really say much about where some of the interviews or conversations are being held and the introduction of places and some of the characters is a bit flat. I don’t know if this was done on purpose, but we don’t really see much of Sharon in the film, just her side and her back, so I feel that takes away the connection she could have built with her audience.
Personally, while this could have been a very great and intriguing film it just seemed too bland. The topic itself is insightful but the director fails to turn the whole idea into an amazing film that would keep the audiences’ eyes glued to their screens.