What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy

What if your father was a Nazi? This is the harrowing question raised in David Evans' thought-provoking documentary. While researching the origin of international laws, human rights lawyer Phillipe Sands encountered two men whose fathers were high-ranking Nazi officers during the Second World War: Niklas Frank, whose father was executed after being found guilty of war crimes by the Nuremberg tribunal, and Horst von Wächter, whose father operated in occupied Poland. The men have strikingly opposite views on their relationship with their fathers. While Frank condemns his father's actions, von Wächter can't bring himself to think of him as a murderer. From these extraordinary encounters, a gripping conversation emerges, resulting in the men journeying to Poland where members of Sands' family were executed during the war. At a time when extremism and anti-Semitism are on the rise, this fascinating and personal encounter is a devastating and timely meditation on remembrance and moral responsibility. (London Film Festival)