GRAY MATTER - DVD review

In the spring of 2002, the city of Vienna conducted a funeral for seven hundred children who were killed by the Nazis in World War II; city officials were not burying seven hundred bodies but rather seven hundred brains. The children were all labeled by the Nazis as handicapped or otherwise "deformed" and were sterilized, experimented upon and eventually killed as part of the Third Reich's eugenics program. "Gray Matter" (2002) tells their story.

Joe Berlinger has directed several high profile American documentaries, including "Brother's Keeper" (1992), "Paradise Lost" (1996) and the recent hit "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (2004) but "Gray Matter" is his first film set in another country. The Nazi eugenics program spanned several countries and led to the deaths of at least five thousand children. Berlinger focuses on the children killed at Spiegelgrund hospital in Vienna. A man named Dr. Heinrich Gross ran the children's euthanasia ward at Spiegelgrund where he used the children's remains to conduct experiments, mostly involving their brains. Berlinger briefly interviews a historian who discusses one of the "experiments" which involved pumping air into the brain; mercifully we move on quickly; there is no need to linger on such details.

The brains remain preserved to this day (or at least until the funeral), and in one of the most memorable scenes in "Gray Matter," Berlinger is left alone in the "brain room." Shelf after shelf is lined with tiny brains in jars, preserved in formaldehyde; the sight of this ghastly collection is a sobering testament to the horror enacted under Gross' guidance.

As if the story wasn't already shocking enough, we soon learn that Dr. Gross is still alive and was never charged with any crimes. Even more amazingly, he was allowed to continue his experiments on the childrens' brains for decades, possibly even well into the 1990s. He published numerous articles in international journals based on his work with his alleged victims' brains. As a final insult, Gross still receives a monthly pension from the Austrian government.

Berlinger becomes obsessed with finding Gross; several sequences in the film play very much like "Heinrich and Me" as Berlinger follows a series of rumors, each of which leads to a dead end. He is told Gross lives in a house but the neighbors say he lives down the street at the hotel; the hotel owners claim not to know anything about him. When Berlinger visits a town hall where Gross allegedly is housed, the mayor, himself accused of Nazi sympathies, feigns ignorance and rushes the film crew out the door.

"Gray Matter" examines several issues which stem from the atrocities committed at Spiegelgrund, chief among them the unwillingness of the Austrian government to fully admit its complicity with the Nazi regime. Even sixty years later, it remains a largely taboo subject and Berlinger runs into one stone wall after another as he tries to uncover the truth.

The horrors compound as Berlinger investigates deeper. He meets several survivors of Spiegelgrund and discovers that many so-called "disabled" children were consigned to the hospital simply because they exhibited "anti-social" behavior. Several of the survivors have gone on to lead successful lives but have never forgotten their time under Gross' care. One woman describes being punished for saying she was hungry; she was violently force fed and then forced to eat her own vomit.

Gross, now nearly 90 years old, was finally brought to trail in 2000, after new evidence of his crimes emerged. Once again, the "Austrian Dr. Mengele" managed to escape judgment when the court declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial as a result of poor hearing and advanced age. Though another court case is pending, it seems unlikely Gross will survive long enough ever to be brought to justice.

Berlinger has a difficult subject to deal with; the camera is a naturally voyeuristic tool and it is hard to approach such material without sensationalizing it. He treads carefully and remains respectful, though I did cringe at the use of deep bass music under pictures of the abused children; the images are horrifying enough and the music feels manipulative. Still, this is a minor complaint and Berlinger does his best to treat the material with sensitivity. Some of the most powerful moments are the times we simply listen to a list of names of the Spiegelgrund victims during the funeral ceremony.

Like so many who tried before him, Berlinger is never able to pin down the slippery Gross. He can only walk away wondering how there could still be people alive in the twenty-first century who would protect a monster like this. Meanwhile, the children have been laid to rest, at least in a symbolic manner. It is not justice, but at least it is an acknowledgement of the crimes perpetrated against them.

Many documentaries are badly stretched to reach feature-length for theatrical distribution. "Gray Matter" was shot for cable (it debuted on Cinemax) and, at just under one hour in length, remains concise and absorbing.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The digital photography isn't exactly beautiful but it is functional, and the transfer is well done.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. The sound design is very simple; just dialogue and some music. The dialogue is all clearly recorded. There are no subtitles or closed captions provided to support the audio.

Extras

There is a feature length commentary track by Berlinger. In addition, the DVD includes a timeline of events which provide background material about Gross and the Nazi euthanasia program.

Closing Thoughts

Sometimes it seems as if every third documentary I review is about the Holocaust. Generally I dread watching them because they obsessively rehash the same material, but Berlinger manages to explore new territory. I had never heard of Dr. Heinrich Gross before, but I am certain I will never forget him after watching "Gray Matter."

Joe Berlinger has emerged, somewhat stealthily, as one of the more interesting documentarians in the business today. "Gray Matter" is an atypical effort for him and a worthy entry which broadens the scope of his work. It also provides good reason to forgive him for "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" (2000).