Three Minutes - A Lengthening

This is a fascinating documentary about a 3 minute home movie taken by travelers to Poland in the 1930s who captured a Jewish community just before its destruction in the Holocaust. The man who came across the film in his family's belongings was eventually able to identify the setting of the film and even talk to some of the people captured in the scenes of people on a street that appear in the film. The documentary is a little bit arty, confining itself almost entirely to showing the 3 minutes of film over and over again while the interviews with sources play over it on the soundtrack, but it is a very interesting look at family history, European history, and just how far you can get tracking down information about old home movies.

As "Three Minutes: A Lengthening" (2022 release; 69 min) opens, we immediately get the entire 3+ min. Footage that was filmed in 1938 in a small village north of Warsaw, Poland. The footage is law quality at times, and high quality at times, and goes back and forth between B&W and color. The voice over (by Helen Bonham Carter) informs us that the footage was discovered in 2009 in Florida, by the grandson of the guy who filmed it. But what are we actually seeing in those 3+ minutes? Couple of comments: this is directed by Dutch film maker Bianca Stigter. Here she assesses what we actually see in this historic footage. Glenn Kurtz, grandson of David Kurtz who filmed this while on a tourist trip across Europe, is intrigued and wants to know more: where was this filmed? Who is being filmed? Etc. So this is not unlike putting together a puzzle, albeit hampered by a 70 years delay, during which most (but not all) of these people have perished and much (but not all) if the small village has been torn down and/or rebuilt. Like revealing an onion's layer after layer, more information is revealed to us. The film makers do an excellent job putting it all together in a way that combines history and mystery, paying tribute to the erstwhile population of a small Polish village whose Jewish population was decimated by the Holocaust. I readily admit I had not heard of this film, that is until I read NPR's list of the "50 Best Movies and TV of 2022" and I immediately knew I just had to see this. The fact that it is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes certainly didn't hurt either. "Three Minutes: A Lengthening" is currently streaming on Hulu, where I caught it last night. If you have any interest in the Holocaust or Europe's pre-WWII era, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

A fascinating and illuminating film of a lost Polish city that was filmed in 1938. It details just how important moving pictures can be to aid our lost memories. It doesn't feel receptive, it instead feels fresh despite the original film being just over three minutes. The feature is only 69 minutes and the detail that Bianca Stigter and Glenn Kurtz glean from the limited filming is astonishing. This short piece of history found by Kurtz was first turned into a book, 'Three Minutes in Poland". Kurtz has examined every piece of footage and thanks to his diligence, he was able to find survivors. Survivors are able to give context and help give a name of many long forgotten. It's a remarkable film! Final Score: 9/10

This documentary comes in at just over an hour, and is still about 30 minutes too long.

Excellent movie !!! We need more movies like this so the holocaust is not forgotten or repeated

I appreciated how we were able to see a glimpse of this small town in Poland that only shortly after the 3 minutes of film was taken, was almost completely wiped out. To examine the faces of those who have no one to remember them. I am grateful to Mr. Kurtz for bringing them alive and making such a great effort to find out as much as he possibly can about them because every life is the entire world.

Very interesting narrative. That was well done. Certainly worth hearing. Some of photography was too choppy for my taste.