The fictive memoirs of a learned and cultivated SS officer became a cultural event not only in France (Prix Goncourt, Grand Prix du roman de l´Académie française). After the author spent years working for various international humanitarian organisations, he asked a question how a man of his education and opinions would have behaved during the times of the economic crises in Germany. He wrote a great tenebrous fresco about a lawyer, who by making small compromises with his conscience became a part of the mass killing mechanism. The Kindly Ones reveals the fragility of all the handrails, which we think do protect us against the fall into the gorge of destruction.

Running time: 3 hrs 20 mins with one interval