The national premiere of Worse Than War on PBS was a huge success. The New York Times titled its review “A Fiery Scholar on the Trail of Genocide and Its Causes” and said (in the print edition), “reaching beyond glib explanations of why so many died.”

Though I don’t think of myself either in general or in the film as “fiery,” I suppose that anyone who takes on the task of conveying to others the horrors of genocide, not just by presenting them but by doggedly pursuing explanations and answers—including from the high and mighty—might be seen as inherently fiery, no matter his calm, analytical, demeanor.

Naturally I am gratified by such responses, as I was by the thoughtful piece that Thane Rosenbaum, the festival’s organizer, wrote about the book Worse Than War. I link to them in this post because I hope to persuade you to come to the Fordham Film Festival to see the film and take part in the discussion afterward, to which I am greatly looking forward. (Worse Than War will be shown Saturday, Oct. 16, during the Fordham Law Film Festival. In addition to Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, 60 Minutes Correspondent Bob Simon and Haris Silajdžić, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will join Forum Director Thane Rosenbaum for the post-screening conversation about the PBS Documentary. The festival runs Oct. 15-21, 2010.)

You may get a taste of the film on the PBS site, but, as it is beautifully shot, I hope that you don’t watch too much and wait until you can see it on the festival’s big screen.

There are many themes treated in the film and about the film that would be interesting to discuss at the festival. How to understand genocide and eliminationism. How to explain why the perpetrators kill. How to explain the failure of the United Nations and the world to do anything effective to prevent genocide. How to move forward legally and politically so that we can reduce the incidence of killing. What making such a film, in its many aspects, was like. What it was like for me, an author, to turn a book into a film. Some of the themes about making the film, I addressed in a “making of” segment that we did for the film’s broadcast.

I look forward to seeing you and hope that you will see fit either now, or after the festival, to explore ways that you might contribute to the cause of saving lives.

-Daniel Goldhagen

Check out the other sneak peeks:

HBO Films You Don’t Know Jack

12 Angry Men

Amistad

They Won’t Forget

…And Justice for All

Tags: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, eliminationism, Fordham Law Film Festival, genocide, PBS Documentary, Worse Than War

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