Transport from Paradise

Transport from Paradise is set in the Theresienstadt ghetto – a Nazi holding camp for tens of thousands of European Jews, from which the only transports were frequent trains to Auschwitz. The title’s grim irony befits a film that intelligently contrasts two versions of Theresienstadt: the picturesque façade projected by the Nazis (erected for the benefit of visiting Red Cross officials and disseminated by propaganda films), and the horrific reality it masked – a reality marked by dehumanisation, despair and death.

Working from a script based on writer Arnost Lustig’s first-hand experiences, director Zbyněk Brynych casts the dramatic net wide, with characters ranging from resistance fighters to collaborators. The crowds of extras that populate the city streets, meanwhile, are a sobering indication of the scale of the genocide – as too is a standout scene in which looming piles of luggage fill the frame. Available in the UK for the first time, this gripping drama is firmly recommended.