Four Years of Night
Director Itamar Alcalay
Countries Israel
Duration 53 min
Synopsis
For four years (1977-1981) Esaias Baitel documented a violent Parisian neo-Nazi gang. Having gained their trust, he was able to get close to them. Living among the gang members, he witnessed horrific events, and while hiding his real identity, he photographed a one-of-a-kind collection of gripping stills. Baitel was born in Sweden to a father who survived Auschwitz. At age twenty-seven, in Malmo, he decided to become a photographer, and set out on a journey in search of his torn identity. In the late 1970s, this journey brought him to Paris. Over thirty years have passed. Esaias Baitel has laid his camera down. He returns to the dark nights he spent in the City of Lights, the city where he lived a double life, going back and forth from the gang to the young family he had just started. The film shows unpredictable compassion and humanity towards those who have done the most terrible deeds. In between past and present, in expressive black-and-white, a rare and sensitive artist is revealed - an artist whose work shines a light in the heart of darkness.
For four years (1977-1981) Esaias Baitel documented a violent Parisian neo-Nazi gang. Having gained their trust, he was able to get close to them. Living among the gang members, he witnessed horrific events, and while hiding his real identity, he photographed a one-of-a-kind collection of gripping stills. Baitel was born in Sweden to a father who survived Auschwitz. At age twenty-seven, in Malmo, he decided to become a photographer, and set out on a journey in search of his torn identity. In the late 1970s, this journey brought him to Paris. Over thirty years have passed. Esaias Baitel has laid his camera down. He returns to the dark nights he spent in the City of Lights, the city where he lived a double life, going back and forth from the gang to the young family he had just started. The film shows unpredictable compassion and humanity towards those who have done the most terrible deeds. In between past and present, in expressive black-and-white, a rare and sensitive artist is revealed - an artist whose work shines a light in the heart of darkness.