Every year there’s at least one documentary that is a must-see film. It’s a documentary that we need to see to change our perspective about the world we live in and humanity’s darkest history that leads us to where we are. This year it’s a film called Disposable Humanity by Cameron Mitchell that explores the history of the Nazi’s Aktion T4 Euthanasia Program, which would be the precursor to the Holocaust…it’s a part of German history that has never really been explored and overshadowed by the horrific nature of the Nazis Holocaust on Jews. And most history classes through high school and even college don’t talk about what really led to the Holocaust and its beginnings when the Nazis took power in the 1930s This is a film that explores that forgotten history and the early test cases that would lead to the world’s largest genocide. Jews were not the first Target by the Nazis when making their master race. There were disabled Germans that were looked at as not being the perfect German human being and that they should be rid of in German society. This is their story. And I will be honest that it is a hard film to watch, but a necessary film. Cameron Mitchell crafts an emotional true story of Nazi Germany’s forgotten history that will make us ask, how could this have happened and how can we make sure that it never happens again.
I thought this was a riveting documentary, but also hard to watch. However, I’m glad that I did. It was even better the second time that I watched it because I felt like there was information that I had missed. There are certainly graphic scenes and while some may argue that they weren’t necessary, I disagree. The film gives us a thorough history more than any college history class ever could regarding how Hitler’s Germany viewed the disabled. It also dives into Hitler’s study of eugenics which lead to his attempt to create a master race in Germany. And, what most people may not know, it was through the T4 program that the Nazis first implemented the gas chambers that would lead to the mass execution of so many Jews. 80 years after the end of Nazi Germany, It becomes more relevant how Hitler truly dismantled democracy in Germany, especially with the rise of the extreme right in fascism throughout the world, even here in America under the Trump administration. But the forgotten history of this program that became the seedlings for the Holocaust makes a profound statement about history that it should never be covered up… the world should always know the darkest secrets of our past So that those actions may never be repeated.
Disposable Humanity is a beautiful, but haunting portrait of a country given way to fascism in what can happen to the people who are deemed less desirable. Cameron Mitchell does a great job telling this story especially when it’s a story that is extremely hard to tell, but is necessary. I definitely think this film will be in the mix for major film awards during the award season of 2025 or 2026 depending on the distribution of the film beyond the film festival circuit. It certainly is an Oscar-caliber documentary that tugs at our emotional sympathies for humanity as certain groups of people are still discriminated against and fascists would love nothing but to see them disappear. Disposable Humanity is a stark reminder of what dictators will do when given too much power and the people who still believe that there is such a thing as a master race. This is a film that every person should watch and a piece of history that should never be forgotten. I know, that I am better off having experienced this story and getting a chance to talk about the film with the director.
