The bulk of the film seems to be from the perspective of a modern day Jewish man telling the story of an impromptu trial of God conducted by a group of Jewish captives at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to a young woman, after picking up where a tour guide left off. The men involved in the trial include: Mordechai (who is appointed as inquisitor of the court and is the son of Khun), Khun (father of Mordekai and devout Jew who seems the most bothered by the blasphemy of the trial), Baumgarten (a professor of criminal law in Berlin, he is appointed as Head of Court), Schmidt (a Rabbi who is appointed Father of the Court), Moche (a younger polish man who seems to deal with his insecurity by insisting he is special and will not die), …show more content…
His use of logic (logos) is exceptional, as he cites specific events in religious history that correlate very strongly with their current events which allows his audience to apply their personal experiences to the events of the bible in such a way that allows them to see those events from a unique perspective that supports Akiba’s ultimate claim of god no longer being on their side, while simultaneously dismantling opposing arguments. He quotes parts of the bible where God speaks to his people “When the lord thy God shall bring you into the land you shall cast out many nations before you, nations much greater and mightier than you are, you shall smite them and utterly destroy them, and make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them.” This reassures Khun, as he fails to realize immediately that Akiba only quotes this to draw a parallel to the Nazi’s doing the same thing. He also quotes god as saying in reference to the Amalekites, “Do not spare him, but kill, kill, man and woman, babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camels and donkey.”, presumably to draw another parallel between the ruthlessness of god and the Germans. His use of emotional appeal (pathos) is also exceptionally strong, as his argument forces the men to become more keenly aware of their situation by inviting them to compare themselves to some historical victims of their God, such as the Egyptians, the Amalekites, and the Kenites, even (and often times especially) the innocent among them. He forces the Jews to reflect on the fact that the Nazi’s of their time were being no more unjust or merciless than their god has been or has ordered them to be in the past. He says to Baumgarten (who previously criticized the Nazi’s for killing children), “you asked earlier, who punishes a child? God does.”, citing that god inflicted a terrible illness on a little girl to punish the father David