Director Yael Hersonski, who helmed the gripping World War II-era documentary "A Film Unfinished," told Niteside she was disappointed Hollywood gave her work an R-rating.
In town to speak to the Washington Jewish Community Center, the young documentarian who is the grandchild of someone who survived the Warsaw Ghetto spent four years making the film and won the Documentary Editing Award at Sundance for her work. She lamented the rating -- which was doled out by the Motion Picture Association of America due to the use of "disturbing images" from the Holocaust.
“It is our moral responsibility to educate our children to become viewers who practice ethical awareness, who can view their reality in a critical way, and who are capable not only to memorize dry historical facts but to deeply understand -- morally as well as emotionally -- its implications,” Hersonski said.
"Without this film – the nudity of these women would have remained in its obscene context – it is exactly this film which redeems these women from their humiliation and discuss the very sadistic nature of that document."
The rating prohibits the film from being shown in classrooms.
The film opens at the E Street Cinema on Sept. 24.
