Claude Lanzmann, who made the 9-hour epic documentary Shoah (1985), is on record as saying the Holocaust should not be depicted in fiction film.

"Fiction is a transgression," he says. "I deeply believe there are some things that cannot and should not be represented."

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Lanzmann used no archival footage in his documentary. He interviewed survivors of the death camps, people who took part in the organisation and killing – all eyewitnesses – and he walked the ground of the camps. It was eloquent and powerful as cinema and history but is this the only way?

Sarah’s Key is a work of fiction. The novel, by French writer Tatiana De Rosnay, has sold about 2.5 million copies worldwide.

John Boyne’s novel for young readers, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, sold about 5 million copies. Clearly, there are a lot of people who want to read fiction about the Holocaust. It’s probably fair to say many of us derive much of our knowledge about the Holocaust from fiction films and novels, rather than documentaries. Schindler’s List and Life Is Beautiful were huge hits but hands up those who saw Shoah?

None of these fiction films was made by somebody who was there; nor were the books above written by people with first-hand knowledge. Fairly soon, there won’t be anybody alive who has that knowledge. If only people who were there should write about it, then stories like this one would stop.

The biggest problem with works of fiction in this area is perhaps hyperbole. Fiction is built on exaggeration but exaggeration is not seemly with the Holocaust – there are too many people who already consider it an exaggeration, a "claim". Exaggerating is a kind of betrayal. The Holocaust is so big, so incomprehensible, so barbarous, that the thing itself is hard to believe. Most fiction films about the Holocaust fail at some level because they get lost trying to explain it. They become contrived, melodramatic, sentiment Watch Sarah’s Key Movie Online

Sarah’s Key lurches towards some of these pitfalls but it is a skillful and powerful piece of storytelling nonetheless. It does not try to tear off too much: the action is confined to France in 1942, rather than proceeding to the death camps in Poland and Germany. The narrative is split between 1942 and the present day. That extends the scope beyond the depiction of actual events. Most of the film explores the aftermath: how the Holocaust affected survivors and how it still affects their children’s children. To View The Full HD : Free movies to watch online