Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime (2014) User Reviews

Despicable tests

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 18 April 2021]

Well actually I reckon you don't even call them tests overall. Even if humans were test subjects in the end. The end result was horrible - and while it should have been evident that the "treatment" people were using was responsible for a lot of horror, pain and anxiety ... it still seemed to get away with it.

Harold Evans comes into the play though and tries to uncover what others seem to either ignore or willfully underplay. Interviews with those who were affected by the decision not to pull something that should never have been made medically clear will either make you furious or at least mad and angry. Well structured and told, but anything but an easy watch.

Excellent...

[RosanaBotafogo · 9/10 · 26 April 2021]

After 45 years of the judged process, the German foundation wants to stop indemnifying the Brazilian victims affected by the drug responsible for the malformation of babies, there are 2,584 victims, 300 of whom are foreigners, and 58 in Brazil, receive a monthly pension... And continue to earn high sales de Whiskey... In 1986 Distillers Company Limited was extinguished, 1997 there was a merger of the brands belonging to Distillers Company, through Guinnes, with the creation of the company Diageo, producerSmirnoff and Johnnie Walker ...

Incredible with shocking revelations

[gtranquilla-11638 · 10/10 · 18 June 2016]

It would be a mistake for anyone to miss this incredible and revealing documentary about a horrible pharmaceutical tragedy that could have been easily avoided.

It helps us to see just how far corrupt corporations were and may still go to protect themselves from paying for their own mistakes. But it also shows how one great man....dedicated himself to righting this horrible injustice.

There is one shocking surprise after another....but also a positive ending. I am surprised this man was not given a Nobel Peace Prize for his unselfish efforts on behalf of innocent victims.

But what is the connection to Concentration camps?

A very emotional film that tells the true story of this tragedy.

[ergins · 10/10 · 20 February 2017]

A very emotional film about a human tragedy that is not as well known as it should be. The victims (parent, siblings and the people themselves) of this deserve dignity and respect for having to suffer what they have for all these years. I as born around the same time as these babies were and I could have easily been a victim of this.

The thing that stands out for me was the tenacity of the editor who just wouldn't let this go until justice was served; he went as far as putting his own freedom at risk to tell the story. Not only did the story finally get out but he changed the law in the United Kingdom (via the European Courts) so that the press had more freedom to report of stories like this in the future.

The take away from this is that a free and vibrant press brought this to light and ensured that the victims were recognised and compensated. Suppressing journalism and the press is the thin end of the wedge to a totalitarian state where freedom is just an illusion.

One of the best documentaries I've seen in years.

[propaganda21 · 10/10 · 24 December 2020]

Harold Evans is an incredible man and hats off to him. This documentary is the telling of his fight as editor of The Sunday Times to get justice (and compensation) for the victims of the drug, Thalidomide. The tragic story of the thalidomide children was something that Enoch Powell and the British government at the time wanted suppressed. It's not an easy documentary to watch when you learn that in the 1950s and 60s, severely disabled babies were sometimes suffocated at birth and the general public felt that they should be kept out of sight and certainly not something featured in a newspaper. The story is expertly told and the archive footage from the time in equal parts fascinating and terrible. This is one of those documentaries that restores your faith in mankind and in good people out there.

Calling this a Nazi Drug diverts attention from those that made this the worst public scandle in modern history.

[chazwyman · 6/10 · 13 February 2021]

It is not a "Nazi Drug". Nor is it a "Nazi" war crime. It was not marketed until 1957. The real criminals are the people that continued to prescribe the drug whilst surpressing knowledge of its harms.

What the heck is this documentary about?

[mcal1973 · 4/10 · 18 August 2021]

The title is completely misleading. I literally had to fast forward through the first 2/3 of the movie before a single Nazi is mentioned. A very serious subject is lost in Harold Evans lengthy diatribes and just plain boring on screen talking heads.

A Documentary of Diversion

[MattBaggins84 · 5/10 · 23 June 2023]

Medical professionals have been negligent? The first question will be "How do we blame someone else"? Clearly the title is misleading at best. The documentary appears to have been created to divert responsibility from those that actually caused the issue to the Nazi's. If you're looking to find the link to Nazis, save yourself 2 hours - the link in (very) tenuous at best. The actual documentary is well presented and you will gain a better understanding of the drug and it's effects. It's really rather good at doing some things, maybe just don't give it to everyone for literally any reason? The discussion of Attorney General V. The Times Newspaper (1973) would have been a more accurate title, and probably a better documentary, but Nazi's sell and the chosen title will get more attention.