Gray Matter (2004)

Sub-Genres - Medicine, Military & War, Biography, Race & Ethnicity  |   Run Time - 59 min.  |   Countries - France, United States  |  
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Synopsis by Jason Buchanan

Follow acclaimed documentarian Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) as he explores one of the darkest wartime atrocities in recorded history in this affecting look at the children who suffered unspeakable horrors in the brutal first act of the Holocaust. In the Spring of 2002, Berlinger learned that the preserved brains of over 700 handicapped children who had been murdered as part of a Nazi eugenics program were finally set to be laid to rest in Vienna. Traveling to Austria to witness the historical event and put the atrocity into an historical perspective, Berlinger soon came in contact with Dr. Heinrich Gross -- the very man allegedly responsible for the brutal experiments. In addition to a conversation with the man nicknamed "The Austrian Dr. Mengele," Berlinger also comes into contact with survivors of the "euthanasia" clinic while asking the question of why it has taken so long to bury these brains, and delving into the moral implications of utilizing scientific knowledge gleaned through such nefarious means.

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Keywords

brain, child, burial, doctor, Nazi, experiment, notoriety, victim, assisted-suicide, funeral, hospital, journey, archival-footage, Austrian [nationality]