[First published for Jewish Heritage Month, for my Jewish friends; personally, I lean more toward Taoism and Buddhism myself, but everyone deserves justice and dignity in life] These are all the holocaust films I found in my research, both ranked and unranked. I'm sure I've missed some, and some are borderline, see the note below the list. Many of these will not be for children, and some are definitely not for the squeamish, as this is about as horrifying as mankind can become.
RANKED [updated 8.8.11]
1. Schindler's List [Spielberg, 1993] #30 [photo top]
2. Shoah [Lanzmann, 1985] #98 Up since 2009
3. The Pianist [Polanski, 2004] #142 New since 2009
4. Army of Shadows [Melville, 1969] #277 Up since 2009
5. Downfall [Hirschbiegel, 2004] #327 New since 2009
6. Triumph of the Will [Riefenstahl, 1935] #614 Down since 2009
7. Night and Fog [Resnais, 1955] #413 Up since 2009
8. Life is Beautiful [Begnini, 1997] #445 Up since 2009
9. Come and See [Klimov, 1985] #491 This terrific film is moving up in ranking; the same story was filmed in English as Defiance, but this is the more harrowing and passionate film10. Au Revoir Les Enfants [Malle, 1987] #872 Up since 2009
11. Hitler: A Film from Germany [Syberberg, 1977] #1219 Down since 2009
Ironically, Oskar Schindler was a failed capitalist who saw an opportunity to succeed with cheap Jewish labor in WW2, and only later developed a conscience.
Shoah is absolutely gut-wrenching, interviews with survivors from both sides, and not for the squeamish; it has some horrifying descriptions, but is a 9 1/2 hr masterpiece of devotion to a cause.
Triumph of the Will from the brilliant actress turned director Leni Reifenstahl doesn't deal with the holocaust directly, but one can see the roots develop in this brilliant piece of propaganda filmmaking which shows the rise to power of the Nazis. The film was so successful worldwide that Time Magazine awarded Hitler "Man of the Year" in 1935! Her Olympia documented the 1936 summer Olympics held in Berlin, which was to be a showcase for the superiority of the German race; even though American sprinter Jesse Owens stunned this image by sweeping his races, the Germans did win the most medals overall. However, during this period public anti-Semitism was hidden away briefly to fool the athletes and press by showing a false and peaceful Berlin.
Army of Shadows is an engrossing film of the French underground, based on a true story. Come and See is a harrowing Russian film of the Nazi invasion of Belorus, a defenseless agrarian region of small villages that became the scorched earth.
UNRANKED (alphabetical)
1. A Generation Apart [1984]
2. A Secret [2007]
3. Adam Resurrected [2008]
4. All My Loved Ones [2000]
5. America and the Holocaust [1994]
6. Angry Harvest [1985]
7. Anne Frank Remembered [1995]
8. Anne Frank: The Life of a Young Girl []
9. Anne Frank: The Whole Story [2001]
10. Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State [2005]
11. Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning [2007]
12. Billy Graham: The Hiding Place [1975]
13. Bonhoeffer [2003]
14. Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace [2000]
15. Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The [2008]
16. Boys From Brazil, The [1978]
17. Century of Simon Wiesenthal, The [1994]
18. Charlotte Gray [2001]
19. Children of Chabannes, The [1999]
20. Civilization and the Jews [1984]
21. Conspiracy [2001]
22. Counterfeiters, The [2007]
23. Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, The [2009]
24. Dear Mr. Waldman [2006]
25. Defamation [2008]
26. Defiance [2008]
27. Devil's Arithmatic, The [1999]
28. Diary of Anne Frank, The [1959]
29. Diplomats for the Damned [2008]
30. Drancy Avenir [1997]
31. Edges of the Lord [2001]
32. Ever Again [2006]
33. Everything Is Illuminated [2005]
34. Fate Did Not Let Me Go [2003]
35. Fateless [2005] 36. Forgiving Dr. Mengele [2006]
37. Frontline: Shtetl [1996]
38. Fugitive Pieces [2007]
39. Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The [1970]
40. God On Trial [2008]
41. Good Evening Mr. Wallenberg [1990]
42. Goodnight, Mister Tom [1998]
43. Hidden Child, The [2007]
44. Hidden Heroes [1999]
45. Hiding Place, The [1975]
46. Holocaust: Dachau and Sachsenhausen [2005]
47. Holocaust: Ravensbruck and Buchenwald [2006]
48. Holocaust: The Liberation of Auschwitz [2005]
49. Holocaust: The Liberation of Majdanek [2006]
50. Holocaust: Theresienstadt [2005]
51. I Have Never Forgotten You [2006]
52. I'm Still Here [2008] 53. Imaginary Witness [2004]
54. Incident at Vichy [2002] 55. Inheritance [2006]
56. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport [2000] #1542
57. Jacob the Liar [1975]
58. Jakob the Liar [1999]
59. Kapó [1959] Italy - NEW listing
60. Last Days, The [1998]
61. Left Luggage [1998]
62. Lies and Whispers [1998]
63. Long Way Home, The [1997]
64. Making Choices [1005]
65. Man in the Glass Booth, The [1975]
66. Massacre in Rome [1973]
67. Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz [1995]
68. Memory Thief, The [2007]
69. Miracle at Midnight [1998]
70. Miriam [2006]
71. My Heart is Mine Alone [1997]
72. Nazi Officer's Wife, The [2003]
73. Ninth Day, The [2004]
74. November Moon [1984]
75. Pawnbroker, The [1965]
76. Rape of Europa, The [2007]
77. Reader, The [2008] #2175
78. Rose Garden, The [1989]
79. Rotation [1949]
80. Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Rescuers[2003]
81. Secrets of the Dead: Escape from Auschwitz [2008]
82. Shadows in Paradise: Hitler's Exiles [2008]
83. Shop on Main Street, The [1965]
84. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days [2005]
85. Sophie's Choice [1982]
86. Steal a Pencil for Me [2007]
87. Triumph of the Spirit [1989]
88. Verdict on Auschwitz [1993]
89. Voyages [1999] 89. Watermarks [2005]
90. Who Betrayed Anne Frank? [1998]
New Listings: The Piano, Downfall, Kapó
Additional Notes:
Inglourious Basterds (2009)? does this belong - I think with an Oscar winning character called "The Jew Hunter", this dark fantasy warrants inclusion, though, of course, the kicking shoe in this one was on the other foot
Of this list, I would definitely rank the films Garden of the Finzi-Continis and The Shop on Main St., also the Oscar-winning true story about using imprisoned Jewish forgers to print U.S. and British currency in The Counterfeiters.
Other films may belong here, some of these may not. I thought about Seven Beauties but since it was about POW's and not the holocaust directly, I didn't include it, but it also helps paint another portrait of the nightmare.
The Night Porter was about the long-lasting effects of the war on a former prisoner and her torturer, brilliantly played by Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde, directed by Liliana Cavani, also not included above as it had nothing directly to do with the holocaust, though Rampling's character was a teenaged Jewish girl selected for sexual experiments due to her sensual beauty, similar to Susan Strasburg's character in Pontecorvo's Kapo.
I would also rank Nowhere in Africa (Oscar for foreign language film), about a Jewish mother who takes her daughter to Kenya to escape the war.
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