TIFF 2021: Three Minutes: A Lengthening Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

At times, tragedy can be breathtaking. Both beautiful and compelling, observing someone else’s jubilation or sadness can stir something emotionally within ourselves if given the opportunity. This is the case with Bianca Stigter’s Three Minutes: A Lengthening which analyzes the precious moments from found footage of the small village of Nasielsk, Poland before it is invaded by the Nazis. It’s a concept that seems almost trivial but as more and more revelations are discovered from these minutes there is a much larger ripple effect of its importance on not only those that survived these tragic times but the ones whose names are forgotten and only their pictures remain.

The footage from David Kurtz during a European excursion in 1938 endured a long journey to find the light of day through the discovery from his grandson, Glenn Kurtz, in the Florida home of his parents. This leads to a lengthy restoration process by the National Holocaust Museum and eventually an award-winning book examining the lives from the footage which culminates in Stigter’s insatiable curiosity of those that were immortalized on film and their untold stories. Throughout this process, names, families, customs, and more are revealed as some of the few survivors from Nasielsk are tracked down to provide further details on what daily life consisted of and how that drastically changed when the Nazis arrived in their town square.

One of the toughest details from the viewing experience within Three Minutes: A Lengthening is found in its inconsistent editing or sound mixing which resembles that of its subject matter and not in a positive way. Furthermore, it is unclear if this was a creative choice being made or if the parameters of the footage and its usage forced certain concessions throughout the process. Either way, it is highly noticeable and completely removes the viewer from what is an otherwise incredibly immersive experience. Additionally, there are several portions of the film that feel as if they are deliberate in their attempt to add length to the runtime by exploring tangents of religious traditions or daily customs that mostly appear as filler. However, one of the tangents evokes one of the film’s most haunting and poignant moments by focusing on a courtyard seen in a brief glimpse of the footage that would later serve as a place of horror in a year’s time.

Overall, the concept of hyper analyzing found footage is something that has been achieved before, however, it is through the personal lens of a time that has been completely forgotten with the exception of the only footage that exists where the inhabitant’s stories become something more. Three Minutes: A Lengthening takes sparse moments of happiness and intrigue and expound upon what this collective experienced in both the highs and lows of their lives. It is only when actual village survivors begin to speak that the footage evolves into something far more special.

Three Minutes: A Lengthening provides a window into lives that would soon be lost in a remarkable and memorable exercise that should not be missed.

still courtesy of TIFF

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