Honestly, if you haven’t seen it yet, James Moll The Last Days is one of those films that just stays with you. It’s heavy. Really heavy. But there’s a reason it won an Oscar back in 1999 and why, even in 2026, it’s still getting pulled up in history classes and on streaming queues.
Most people think they know the "standard" Holocaust story. They think of the early 1940s. They think of the slow buildup of the war. But James Moll did something different here. He focused on a specific, terrifying paradox: the fact that the Nazis actually sped up their killing machine in Hungary right when they knew they were losing.
The Weird, Dark Logic of 1944
Basically, by March 1944, the writing was on the wall for the Third Reich. The Soviets were closing in from the East. The Allies were prepping for D-Day. Any sane military leader would have diverted every train, every soldier, and every bullet to the front lines to stop the invasion.
Instead, Hitler and the SS did the opposite.
They invaded Hungary—their own ally—and launched a "genocidal fury" that was so fast it was basically a factory line of death. We're talking about roughly 438,000 people deported to Auschwitz in just about eight weeks.
James Moll captures this obsession perfectly. He doesn't just give you a history lecture with a bunch of grainy maps. He gives you five people.
Meet the Survivors
The movie follows five Hungarian Jews who moved to the U.S. after the war.
- Tom Lantos: You might know him as the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress.
- Alice Lok Cahana: An artist who used her work to process the grief.
- Renee Firestone: A fashion designer with a spirit that’s honestly kind of indomitable.
- Bill Basch: A businessman who was a teen in the resistance.
- Irene Zisblatt: A grandmother who famously swallowed diamonds to keep them from the Nazis.
Moll takes them back. He literally flies them to their childhood homes in Hungary and then to the ruins of the camps. Seeing Renee Firestone stand at the gate of her old house in what is now Ukraine (it was Hungary then) is a gut punch.
That Shocker of a Scene with the Nazi Doctor
There is a moment in James Moll The Last Days that usually makes people's jaws drop. It’s when Renee Firestone sits down with Dr. Hans Münch.
Münch was an SS doctor at Auschwitz.
💡 You might also like: Where to Watch The Big Short: What Most People Get Wrong
He was actually acquitted at the Nuremberg trials because some prisoners testified he was "humane" compared to others, but sitting across from Renee, the vibe is chilling. He’s clinical. He describes the "process" of the gas chambers as "very simple" and "primitive."
Renee asks him about her sister, who was experimented on at the camp. Münch basically shrugs. He doesn't remember. He’s not a mustache-twirling villain in this scene; he’s just a guy who was part of the machine. That’s what makes it scarier. It shows the "banality of evil" that historians like Hannah Arendt talked about.
Why James Moll Focused on Hungary
Hungary is a weird case in WWII history. For most of the war, the Hungarian government actually protected its Jewish citizens, sort of. They were allies with Germany, and while they passed some nasty anti-Semitic laws, they didn't hand their people over for deportation.
That all changed in March 1944.
🔗 Read more: Roger Miller’s Husbands and Wives Song: The Brilliantly Brutal Reality of Why Marriages Falter
The Nazis realized Hungary was trying to make a secret peace deal with the Allies. They occupied the country, put a puppet government in place, and sent in Adolf Eichmann to "clean up."
Because it happened so late, many Hungarian Jews actually thought they were safe. They heard rumors about what was happening in Poland, but they didn't believe it. They thought, "We’re Hungarians first. Our neighbors won’t let that happen."
Moll’s film shows the heartbreak of that realization. Irene Zisblatt recalls her neighbors—people she thought were friends—cheering as her family was loaded into cattle cars. "It's about time!" they yelled.
The Production Was a Community Effort
You’d think a movie executive-produced by Steven Spielberg would have a massive, unlimited budget. Kinda wasn't the case.
James Moll has mentioned in interviews that the film relied a lot on donated services from companies like Kodak and Technicolor. It was the first theatrical release from the Shoah Foundation (now at USC). They shot it on 35mm film because they wanted it to feel like a "real" movie that people would go see in a theater, not just a TV special.
Hans Zimmer did the music. If you know Zimmer, you know his scores are usually huge and thumping. Here, it’s stripped back. It’s haunting.
✨ Don't miss: Why the Kennedy Ryan Skyland series is the only romance you need to read right now
In 2021, the film was remastered in 4K. Moll went back to the original negatives, and honestly, the clarity makes the archival footage even more visceral. If you're watching it on Netflix now, you’re seeing details—expressions on faces in the background—that were blurry in the original 1998 release.
Actionable Takeaways: How to Watch and Learn
Watching James Moll The Last Days isn't just about "consuming content." It’s about witnessing. If you’re looking to dive deeper or use this for research, here’s how to handle it:
- Watch the Remastered Version: Don't hunt for an old DVD. The 4K version on Netflix or Blu-ray is significantly better for seeing the subtle emotions in the interviews.
- Visit the USC Shoah Foundation Website: They have over 55,000 testimonies. If one of the five stories in the film resonates with you, you can find their full, unedited interviews there.
- Check the Maps: The borders of Hungary changed constantly during the war. When Renee or Irene talk about their "hometowns," those places might be in Ukraine or Romania today. Looking at a 1944 map vs. a 2026 map helps you understand the geographic chaos of that era.
- Read Tom Lantos’s Bio: His story didn't end at liberation. He went on to be a massive force in the U.S. government, proving that "survival" can lead to immense power and change.
This film isn't a "fun" watch, but it’s a necessary one. It debunks the idea that the Holocaust was a slow, inevitable crawl. It shows it was a choice made by people who were losing everything but still chose to prioritize hate.
James Moll The Last Days remains a definitive piece of documentary filmmaking because it keeps the focus where it belongs: on the humans who lived through the "last days" of a nightmare.