How making Shoah nearly killed Claude Lanzmann

Claude Lanzmann's 10-hour documentary Shoah is considered one of the most important Holocaust films ever made. In his review, Roger Ebert called it "an enormous fact, a 550-minute howl of pain and anger in the face of genocide."

A new, Oscar-nominated film gives us insight on how challenging it was to make.  

Adam Benzine is the director of Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject). He joins guest host Tom Power to talk about how the film took over Lanzmann's life.

"It kind of broke him in almost every sense — financially, mentally," says Benzine. "In some ways Shoah was the longest relationship of his life."

The harrowing process, which took longer than a decade, included convincing survivors to reopen their wounds, and covertly filming SS guards. The latter mission nearly got Lanzmann killed.

"It was like a bereavement for him. It took many months to recover. I think he's still recovering," says Benzine. 

WEB EXTRA | Watch the trailers for both Shoah and Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah below. The former was never nominated for an Oscar, notes Benzine.