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Occupied City

The past collides with the present in this excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam: a journey from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest and a provocative, life-affirming reflection on memory, time and what's to come. (PG-13, 246 min. with a 15 minute intermission)

Showtimes

Saturday, January 27, 2024

12:00 PM

The past collides with our precarious present in Steve McQueen’s bravura documentary Occupied City, informed by the book Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945) written by Bianca Stigter. McQueen creates two interlocking portraits: a door-to-door excavation of the Nazi occupation that still haunts his adopted city, and a vivid journey through the last years of pandemic and protest. What emerges is both devastating and life-affirming, an expansive meditation on memory, time, and where we’re headed. [A24]

Director: Steve McQueen
Genre(s): Documentary, History, War

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"A singular masterwork."

— Donald Clarke Irish, Times

"A striking encounter between then and now."

— Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

"Every film is a collection of moving images, but few are as moving as the sights that compose 'Occupied City.'"

— Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

"It’s an attempt to find a new way of keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, as the people who remember it firsthand disappear."

— Sam Adams, Slate

"In the hours and days following its conclusion, you might just find your heart and soul demolished, and somehow made whole again."

— Tomris Laffly, TheWrap

"McQueen and Stigter haven’t just excavated some not-so-ancient history; they’ve also made a haunting, magisterial tribute to a city they clearly love."

— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

"As 'Occupied City' continues to juxtapose the city’s history with its present — with chronicles of varying length that chart Jewish struggle, resistance, death and survival — the film builds tremendous force."

— Manohla Dargis, New York Times