“The Word ‘maelstrom’ originally referred to a whirlpool off the coast of Norway, a whirlpool so powerful that it could draw down boats from miles around.”

The Maelstrom is a film that chronicles the Peerebooms through their home movies. The Peerebooms were a Jewish family whom lived in the Netherlands before and during WWII. The film follows the Peerebooms from 1933 to 1939 we watch them develop families and lives. The film follows them until they are preparing to leave for the concentration camps in the winter of 1940. Throughout the film the Peerebooms are compared to those of the (Austrian) family of Reich Commissioner for The Netherlands Arthur Seyss-Inquart. This film has no voice-over it is only a troubling jazz score sometimes cut off by a radio broadcast. The first we see of the Peerebooms archives is in 1933, which is when Max and Annie get married. 1933 is also when Hitlor becomes chancellor of Germany. The film also cuts to historical footage, which in the beginning is Nazi soliders and training children for the Nazi regime. Later in the film it is shots of Jewish families being taken out of their homes.The end of the film tells us that the only survivior of the Peereboom family was the youngest simon.

The Holocaust is a constant reminder of the capability of evil and ignorance. I have viewed several holocaust films but none were anything like this film. This film didn’t show the horrors of the concentration camp, it didn’t show the gruesome graphics that are normally shown in these films. Instead this filmmaker showed blissful family movies, giving the viewer enough information to figure out the inevitability of this family. I believe that this film is extremely powerful film on the holocaust. It gives the viewer a whole different perspective on this subject. It showed real people going about their normal lives. It showed the “before” shots of a Jewish as opposed to “after” shots. When you see other holocaust films you see what happens after they have been at the camps and you feel gut-wrenching awful for anyone who had to endure that kind of torture. The Peerebooms, on the other hand, are a relatable family and that is what makes this film worse than any other film. This film makes you sit on all the information you know and just watch this family continue to grow and wait for the inevitable.