It is Holocaust Memorial Day. Fictionalising the Holocaust has become something of a fashion in recent years — The Reader, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes in the orginal French) to name but three. The first two have been adapted for film, the third has not. Its author, Jonathan Littell, has refused to sell the film rights on the grounds that it would be impossible to adapt the book for the screen.
Littell’s statement is strange because The Kindly Ones is cinematic in scope. The action ranges from Stalingrad to Auschwitz, to bombed-out Berlin to the glamour of the Cote d’Azur; and the protagonist encounters all manner of Nazi, not just the monsters.
It would be more accurate to say that Littell’s vision of The Kindly Ones could not be filmed.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in