A Film Unfinished compares and contrasts the unreleased Nazi propaganda film “Das Ghetto” and various other accounts, including journal entries and testimonies, by those who experienced life in the Warsaw Ghetto. It is through the examination of these sources that the film is able to effectively portray not only how the Nazis wanted life to appear in the Warsaw Ghetto, but also how life actually was like in the ghetto. The film begins by describing the unreleased film “Das Ghetto.” This silent black and white film was around an hour long and was the “longest Nazi propaganda film shot inside the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest ghetto in Nazi Occupied Poland.” Das Ghetto was created in May 1942, only a short time before many of the inhabitants were sent to death camps. Strangely the propaganda film was never released, and It is still unknown why the propaganda film was later disregarded. The propaganda film mainly contrasts the so-called lives of the “rich” and poor Jews living within the Warsaw ghetto, and through such claims that “while Jews live in luxury, they share nothing with the hungry.”
After briefly describing “Das Ghetto”, A Film Unfinished interweaves footage from the silent black and white propaganda film with personal accounts and testimonies. It is through these personal accounts and testimonies that the viewer is able to see how much of Nazi produced footage is staged. For example, at one point there is footage of an apartment with quite lavish furniture and