Erno Spiegel was spared because he was a twin. He went on to help others at Auschwitz, as detailed in this documentary by Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill.
The documentary “The Last Twins” tells the harrowing true story of Erno Spiegel, a Jewish man who was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, but was spared for one reason: He was a twin. Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi physician, considered twins to be the ideal subjects because they allowed him to conduct what he believed were controlled genetic studies. He made Spiegel preside over a group of around 60 twin boys — many of whose lives Spiegel would save.
Directed by Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill, “The Last Twins” is a conventional documentary made up of talking heads, archival materials and somber narration by Liev Schreiber. The speakers are mostly Holocaust survivors — some of the very boys whom Spiegel protected by forging documents or keeping crucial information secret. After the camps were liberated, Spiegel ended up leading his group of twins on a brutal winter trek through Poland and back home to Hungary.
Hearing these survivors, now well into their 90s, talk about their experiences is devastating and poignant. But a cynical part of me wonders to what extent a documentary like “The Last Twins” simply scratches the same itch, allowing viewers to indulge a kind of morbid (if sympathetic) curiosity in the Holocaust. Should every unique survival story be packaged into the same kind of storytelling blueprint?
One answer might be that real heroes — in the Holocaust and other histories of genocide — are often the stuff of fiction. Here, heroism is presented less as a feat of preternatural bravery than a series of choices made by someone who simply refused to give up his humanity.
The Last Twins
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
