Prisoner of Paradise: The Making of a False Film

We have all seen our fair share of Holocaust films and documentaries.  Though many of the stories are comparable, the atrocities committed are never easy to swallow. When I saw the description of Prisoner of Paradise, it was apparent to me that I had never heard of anything like this. For starters, the title of the film, Prisoner of Paradise, is and unexpected title for a Holocaust documentary. Even facetiously, how could any part of this period be considered a paradise?
 The documentary follows Kurt Gerron, a Jewish German actor/entertainer from the 1920s and 30s, director in the 1940s. Gerron was captured like so many other Jewish talents, however, he was given a strange assignment while in captivity at the concentration camp, Theresienstadt.

Theresienstadt was the camp in which many Jewish actors, musicians, writers, and intellectuals were taken during the Holocaust. It was advertised as a more comfortable concentration camp for the privileged few. Not surprisingly, this was a lie. While the facilities were grand in appearance, they were altered for the Jewish guests. For extra money, a room with a view could be reserved for a prisoner, but they never taken to these better rooms. There was an auditorium that was available for the actors to put on performances, but the space could be used as a crypt at anytime. 
It was Gerron's job to use his skills as a director to make a propaganda film that would try and prove to the Danish Red Cross and the outside world that the Nazi camps could be cultural centers, and a happy place where Jews could live separately from everyone else.
You discover what Gerron's existence was before the Nazi take over, and how he desperately tried to hold onto his freedom, and then his life. His story is moving and unique. You see a man with a literal and metaphorical gun to his head, extracting every ounce hope to put on celluloid. Hope from men, women and children that are surrounded with death. Simply put, Prisoner of Paradise is the best Holocaust documentary I have ever seen.