Common Sense Media Review
By Kat Halstead
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Holocaust references in haunting found-footage documentary.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Three Minutes: A Lengthening
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In THREE MINUTES: A LENGTHENING, Helena Bonham Carter narrates as writer Glenn Kurtz investigates vacation footage shot by his grandfather David Kurtz in Nasielsk, Poland, in 1938. The just over three minutes of footage shows the Jewish population of the small town, on the brink of World War II. It explores the restoration process and offers a haunting investigation into the people and place at the time of filming, and the horror of what would come next for many.
Is It Any Good?
The footage itself is front and center in this haunting documentary that offers a historical snippet of a Jewish community just a year before the start of World War II. Three Minutes: A Lengthening does exactly as its title suggests, pulling a documentary-length film from just over three minutes of raw footage from 1938. The footage is rarely off the screen, whether it's being replayed, rewound, or paused in still form to zoom in on faces and details. Bonham Carter is a thoughtful, reflective narrator, while writer Glenn Kurtz reveals the journey of investigating those people and places seen in his grandfather's rare 16mm footage. It's one of the few communities destroyed during the Holocaust to be preserved in moving pictures. As kids jostle to stay in shot and adults fix their hair in the background, there's a constant tension between presence and absence, innocence and what would come next. Even as it's fascinating to watch how the team go about identifying the Lion of Judah in a synagogue carving or the blurred lettering on a shop sign, or how they locate survivors who can shed more light on those around them, the footage is tied to a tragic sense of inevitability. The documentary is a haunting, devastating watch, and it poignantly offers moments of silence to witness these people and for viewers to be with their own thoughts in the present. All the while, the atrocities of the Holocaust are looming just frames away.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Three Minutes: A Lengthening uses a brief piece of footage to tell multiple stories about the lives of Polish Jews in 1938 and later accounts of the Holocaust. How did the filmmakers uncover the facts, and how were the stories presented? How to talk with kids about violence, crime, war, and tragedy.
The archive footage itself is on-screen for the majority of the film, either moving or in the form of still pictures. What effect did this have? Did the way you experienced the footage change during the movie as new information emerged?
The movie goes into some detail about the process of restoring the footage. Did you find that aspect interesting and learn anything new from it?
Movie Details
- In theaters : August 19, 2022
- On DVD or streaming : October 25, 2022
- Cast : Helena Bonham Carter , Glenn Kurtz , Maurice Chandler
- Director : Bianca Stigter
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studios : Super LTD , Neon
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : History
- Run time : 69 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : thematic material involving the Holocaust
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate