Veit Harlan was commissioned by the Nazis to make a movie depicting Jews in the most negative light. Harlan's wife, Kristina Soderbaum, co-starred in the film as a woman who drowned herself after the Jewish banker (Oppenheimer) raped her. Clips from "The Jew Suss" were included in the documentary, and consequently, it was very hard to sit through those scenes.
"Harlan" contains interviews with the director's immediate family: sons and daughters from different marriages as well as nieces, nephews, and grandchildren (including Stanley Kubrick's wife). Most of the interviewees expressed their varying degrees of shame over what Harlan did, and the documentary chronicles their struggles and how they came to feel the way they do. There is tension throughout the film because siblings respond to each other's interviews. I found Jessica Jacoby to be my favorite "character" because of how she renounced her grandfather and proclaimed that he should've been found guilty for war crimes (Harlan was tried and acquitted twice over abetting Nazism during the war).
I enjoyed the film overall and highly recommend that everyone see it. There is discord among the family members, including son Thomas who publicly denounced his father. It's a film about shame, guilt, history, and different definitions of family. It's a part of our history as well.
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