Update VII: The blank faces

We might not end up using ‘blank faces’ in our film. They’re quite disturbing (though consistent with the nature of our subject matter). But we decided to experiment. Here’s why: In April of 1940 The Nazi authorities expelled 113,000 ethnic Poles from the neighborhood that was to become the ghetto and ordered the immediate relocation of 138,000 Jews there. Many had only moments to collect their belongings. Within the next few months, a total of 375,000 Jews were packed into the area and a wall was built to contain them there. This scene depicts Jews walking to the ghetto en mass. By this time, Jews from all over Poland were relocated to Warsaw. Different areas of the country had different badges to identify their damned, and at a certain point in Warsaw, you saw them all. When we look at events through a historical lens and speak about large groups of people - we depersonalize the story. Each of these people had a face that they inherited. Expressions, feelings, thoughts, and their own individual stories. Milkweed attempts to tell a few of these stories. But how can one even attempt to tell the stories of all these people as individuals? One can't. Until you see one... or the other.. or the millionth. Here, the crowd is blank. What is revealed about them is their badges, their sparse belongings, the crowds. "Nobody sees me!" exclaims Misha innocently. "They see you... they're afraid of you". Their fear lets their stories begin. Misha will start to see their faces… and so will the audience.