"Klaus Barbie. Sometimes known as the Butcher of Lyons" is the quote I remember in the film Rat Race, obviously not the fashion doll Barbie that's made millions over the years haha. This is how I found out about Klaus Barbie, the focus in this French / German / English language film, that I found in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, directed by Marcel Ophüls (The Sorrow and the Pity). Narrated by Jeanne Moreau, basically this film deals with the life, career and trial of Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie, known as the Butcher of Lyons, virtually all aspects of his life are covered. This includes Barbie's childhood and school life in Germany, his early experiences in the military and progressing career, his role in the head of intelligence in Lyons, his employment before World War II by the U.S. military, his life in Bolivia, his return to Europe, and his trial and conviction for his crimes against humanity. Interviewed throughout the film are friends, enemies, associates, heroes and traitors of Barbie. I will be honest and say that I could not fully keep up with who was who in the contributions, especially when it kept changing languages and subtitle translations, but most of what was being discussed was interesting enough, so it was an alright documentary. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Worth watching, in my opinion!

Marcel Ophuls, son of esteemed film director Max Ophuls, directs "Hotel Terminus", an award winning documentary about Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie. Beginning in childhood, and therefore innocence, and ending with Klaus becoming "the Butcher of Lyon", the film traces Klaus' life by assembling over forty years of footage and interviews culled from over 120 hours of discussion with former Nazis, American intelligence officers, South American government officials, victims of Nazi atrocities and witnesses.A Gestapo Chief in Lyon, Klaus was responsible for torturing and murdering resistance fighters, Jewish men, woman and children, and had thousands deported to Hitler's death camps. After the war, like many German and SS officers, he was protected by and worked with the US Army, who hid him in Bolivia where he lived for 3 decades as a business man. It was only in 1987, when the Cold War was drawing to a close, and with it Klaus' usefulness to the US, that Klaus was brought to trial in a French courtroom for crimes against humanity.Ophuls paints a truly complex portrait of evil, his film highlighting how responsibility is diffused in hierarchal structures, how Communist paranoia resulted in many Nazi officers being willingly absorbed by the amnesic Allies, and delineating the various forces which allowed Klaus to survive after the war. A stand out scene involves Ophuls (himself German born) revealing his Jewish identity to an associate of Klaus, but much of this 4 and a half hour documentary is rather low key, revoking easy sensationalism for an objective, probing tone.Surprisingly, the film has a comedic streak, Ophuls pointing out the inconsistencies in testimonies, undermining the statements of various German officers with clever quips and using German folksongs as an ironic counterpoint to several scenes. 9/10 – Worth one viewing. Makes a good companion piece to Ophuls' "The Sorrow and the Pity". See "The Conformist".

This is a riveting film from start to finish. Marcel Ophuls very personal and wry take on the unfolding horror of Nazi Klaus Barbie's long and unimpeded criminal career exerts a powerful hold. The movie exudes a weird, creepy humor throughout, beginning with its title, the actual name of the French hotel which was the location of Barbie's headquarters in Lyons. "Hotel Terminus" is filled with unforgettably bizarre, real life characters. The voices of Barbie's torture victims and pursuers are given equal time alongside those of his collaborators and defenders. This is an important movie. It stands as one of the best documentaries of the twentieth century and of all time. The film is as much or more about French history as well as American and German. The United States ugly,collaborative role in Barbie's eluding of justice for so many years is revealed in terms like "ratline". The ratline was a transportation corridor set up by the CIA to funnel Nazi war criminals safely out of Europe to South America. This operation functioned with the help of the Vatican.It was fueled by the turn of the political tide after World War Two when fear of Communist takeover took hold over Europe and the West, and the Nazis were seen as specialists in their ability to ferret out Communists. There are numerous subtitles throughout, especially in Part one, but these do not detract from the film's unstoppable momentum. Parts of this true story seem almost unbelievable. Hannah Arendt's observation and comment on the banality of evil is again and again underscored in Ophuls extraordinary film.

Along with "The Sorrow and the Pity" (from same director), this is definitely one of the most gripping and informative documentaries you will ever get to see. Focusing of the life of the Klaus Barbie, a ruthless SS interrogator later labeled "The Butcher of Lyons", implicated in over 4000 deaths and the deportation of over 7000 Jews in occupied France, this documentary not only paints a relentless picture of the German occupation in France, but also of the 40-year manhunt of a Nazi war criminal. Employed by the American government after the war for his contacts, and later protected by several other governments eager to use his "talents", Marcel Ophuls exposes a complex web of political intrigue and deceit that spans over decades. While some spectators seemed to get a bit lost having absolutely no prior knowledge about European war history not involving an American elite team saving the world, just knowing that France was occupied by Germans during WWII and that legendary French Resistance Leader Jean Moulin was one of Barbie's many victims should be enough to follow and understand this must-see documentary just fine!