God on Trial
A film set in Auschwitz, wherein the imprisoned Jews put God on trial for breach of contract. Some of them assert that God has broken the covenant with Israel by allowing the Holocaust. The play is almost set entirely in a single barrack, with almost all of the 'action' being the debate between the Jews.
Despite having a plethora of atheist arguments against the existence of a good God, even the Jews who conclude that God has abandoned them do not conclude that God isn't real, just that he is in breach of contract, or has sided with the Nazis, making a new covenant with a new chosen people.
The film has a framing device wherein modern-day visitors to Auschwitz are told of the story of the trial.
* Author Tract: Completely averted. Both sides are represented, with a 'final scene' for each side. The last monologue is given by a man claiming God to be evil. The last scene in the World War Two era camps, however, features a faithful Jew who lied to the Nazis in order to go to the gas chambers in place of his son, who then dies praying. The author himself was Catholic, but the debate is fairly well framed as a Jewish one, with the prisoners not posing any arguments based on the New Testament.
- Downer Ending: The Jews conclude that God has abandoned them, the film ends with several of the prisoners being lead to the gas chambers, and no-one is confirmed to have escaped or survived until the liberation by Allied forces.
- Foreshadowing: When arguing for reasons why the Holocaust might be for the greater good, one of the prisoners suggests a return to Israel.
- Framing Device: The events of the film seem to be related to modern day visitors to Auschwitz by the tour guide.
- God Is Evil: The jury ultimately decides God is in breach of contract, although whether they find him evil is not stated. The final monologue, however, features a man who is unequivocally of this position, and pretty much concludes that God is a Complete Monster.
- God Is Good: Argued by a decreasing number of the Jews as the trial goes on, but still maintained by at least one of the main characters until the end.
- The Holocaust: The justification for the trial in the first place, as well as offering the setting.
- One-Scene Wonder: The final monologue is delivered by a man who never spoke up in the rest of the play.
- Stupid God Allied Hitler: It's suggested during the final monologue that the Nazis owe their success due to having made a covenant with the God who abandoned the Jews.
- Tear Jerker: Several of the stories of the prisoners are this, but the story of the man forced to choose between his three children who were being taken away from him is possibly one of the worst.
- Those Wacky Nazis: They don't make a major appearance in general, but the movie seems to make a point of show-casing the 'normalness' of the Nazis, to emphasize the casual brutality of the Holocaust.