Educational Media Reviews Online

In the Monument covers generally the relatively modern practice of building genocide memorials, but it also traces the design process of the first Holocaust memorial in the Canadian capital. The monument in Ottawa is currently under construction. The film is entirely made up of repeated interviews with a handful of architects, artists, and scholars. Six proposals for the Ottawa monument are explored through interviews with the team members, who discuss their renderings and visions for the monument.

The film ends up being a defensive memorial itself, with an emphasis on why memorials that recognize the Holocaust and other genocides should be built. Team proposals are presented in a confusing way, since interviews with the same revolving group of artists and scholars are interspersed within actual members of the team. And the filmography is more spastic than I would like – with short interview clips and distracting shots that draw my attention toward the untidy piles of books on shelves behind the interviewee and away from what the person is saying. In the Monument does a fine job of discussing style, for instance, comparing more traditional war-related monuments (generals on horses) to more abstract, dark, or affective modern memorials. The designers also discuss ways to engage different generations – from remaining Holocaust survivors to small children. Because of its ineffective structure, unclear purpose, and undefined audience base, I can’t recommend this film for library collections.