In the Valley of the Wupper

Gitai's documentary In the Valley of the Wupper looks at the rise of Neo-Nazism in Europe by following a 1992 racist incident in Wuppertal, Germany.

Gitai's searing documentary In the Valley of the Wupper (90 mins.) follows the path of two skinheads who murder a man thought to be a Jew. The racist incident happens outide a bar in Wuppertal, Germany--home of a beautiful old Jewish cemetary as well as a WWII-era factory that manufactured Zyklon-B gas.

Gitai's camera captures small details in the urban lanscape and unsettling testimonials from locals that suggest how much of Europe's Nazi past still resonates in the present. As one critic noted, "The film burns with a smoldering anger tinged with sadness as Gitai, with merciless lucidity, traces the contours of the murkier tendencies corroding many parts of Europe (not just Germany)."