THREE MINUTES--A LENGTHENING is a feature-length documentary based on three minutes of genuine "found footage" taken in a Jewish town in Poland in 1938 by a man who has emigrated to America many years earlier. And that is (almost) all it shows, with narration and comments by the grandson of the man, a couple of survivors of the Holocaust from that town, and Helena Bonham-Carter.

One of the most interesting aspects of tracing the background of people rom the town is the detective work trying to decode the people's names from from the blurred images of the names on stores and elsewhere in the photographs. This is a notable detective story, as in finding who killed someone in a traditional mystery, but instead it is bringing people back to life. It is not just a documentary of old footage, but also a consideration of what the footage represents, and the varied reactions we have to it.

Released to various festivals 2022. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4) or 9/10

Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12017738/reference

What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_minutes_a_lengthening

					Mark R. Leeper
					Copyright 2023 Mark R. Leeper