Disposable Humanity
Directed by Cameron S. Mitchell
Written by Cameron S. Mitchell, & David T. Mitchell
Starring Cameron S. Mitchell, David T. Mitchell, Sharon L. Snyder, & Emma Jane Mitchell
Unrated
Premiered February 21 at Slamdance

by Heidi Krull, Staff Writer

This past weekend, Los Angeles held its annual Slamdance Film Festival, showing a plethora of new films in different genres. I had the opportunity to watch Disposable Humanity, an eye-opening documentary diving into Nazi Germany and how they systematically targeted people with disabilities. Not only was this film incredibly educational, but it also was a tragically moving viewing experience that showed unbelievable guts from the filmmakers.

Disposable Humanity follows Cameron Mitchell and his family, who are scholars in disability studies. They have been researching the Nazi Aktion T4 program for years, and interview everyone from T4 victims to memorial directors to find the truth. The Nazi Aktion T4 program was a campaign of large-scale murder that specifically targeted people with disabilities in Nazi Germany. While it is a well-known fact that the Nazis targeted many groups of people, the cruelty the Mitchells unveiled was astounding. They figure out through these conversations and hidden proof that the T4 program is where the Nazis initially invented the method to murder mass amounts of people. Though this fact should be common knowledge, much of this history has been intentionally buried and erased from history. The Mitchells take their audience on a powerful journey as they uncover even more of the inhumanity of the Nazis.

The first thing I noticed about this film was the absolute bravery of the Mitchell family. They traveled far to investigate this tragedy, and through it all, most of their trip was not even wheelchair accessible. Although there were so many horrific things to focus on here, it was staggering to see so blatantly that these facilities had no respect for people with physical disabilities. As the documentary continues, we learn more and more about the extent to which people with disabilities were seen as subhuman, and the lengths the Nazis would go to inflict pain on the innocent. I found it inspiring that the Mitchells were so unflinching in the face of unthinkable terror. The family made it clear from the beginning that their primary mission was to educate the public about what really happened at places like Bernberg, and they achieved that mission successfully in Disposable Humanity.

The bravery on display in Disposable Humanity was far from the only thing I was drawn to. This film was impeccably made, interesting, and educational all the way through. The T4 program had so many layers to it, many of those needing to be slowly uncovered throughout the course of the film, and the Mitchells clearly worked incredibly hard to obtain everything they found. The amount of proof they showed, everything from documents to physical gas chambers, was absolutely flooring to witness. And, from a filmmaking perspective, Disposable Humanity shows off a seamless expertise in pacing and cinematography. Each shot seemed to be specifically picked for any given moment, whether it be a shot of the horrible buildings they were touring or one of the Mitchells slowly walking through nature. I love how every shot took me on an emotional journey and blended perfectly from each scene to the next.

This documentary highlighted a number of important events that occurred between primarily 1940 through 1944, but it also reminds us that people with disabilities still face adversity in the current day. There are still facilities that use outdated medicine to treat people, buildings that are entirely inaccessible to those in wheelchairs, and general stigma and hatred pointed at those with disabilities. The T4 program, though it seems like a distant memory, needs to be brought to light way more than it currently is. In making this film, the Mitchells achieved an incredible feat: showing the world the truth about the origins of the Holocaust, and also maintaining hope that the future will continue to become more fruitful for the disabled community.

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