Better than fiction: Defiant Requiem

Following the narratives of survivors, Defiant Requiem tells the unbelievable story of Rafael Schachter, a Czech conductor who sparks hope and spirit among his fellow prisoners, in the darkest time at the Terezin concentration camp. This documentary is nicely done: the mournful music really enhanced the survivor’s account of their history with the Holocaust and with their source of hope–Schachter. It was Schachter’s endless pursuit of music that made labor and torture more bearable; it was through music, that the prisons were able to express something they did not dare to say to the Nazis. It is a remarkable film to watch; it is painfully beautify.