Disposable Humanity lingers, insisting on remembrance, standing out as a deeply human work of historical recovery, and a quietly urgent, powerful act of morality. Director Cameron Mitchell’s documentary recently played the 2026 Reel Abilities Film Festival, and instantly justified its presence, illuminating and often undercut aspect of the holocaust. Eugenics. Hitler and the Nazi Party worked to cleanse their bloodline of impurities by executing their disabled population. Not just the disabled Jewish population, but any disabled population as part of a specialized program designed to exterminate those in their society they felt were undesirable. Of course, this is just the Nazi way, if you don’t like or don’t agree with it, kill it.

The documentary dives headfirst into the program that cost immeasurable lives, and explores this through both current and archival footage, utilizing historians, disability rights advocates, and most affectingly family members of those killed in the process.Not that much of a case should need to be made that doing things like this is inhuman and morally reprehensible, but the film follows through on a factual and structurally sound delivery, believing that the “just the facts ma’am” approach is enough. Simply mentioning the atrocities at hand warrants empathy, not because the film needs to go to great lengths to convince you of it, but because it assumes its audience has a soul, and as a byproduct, will be able to coherently understand that this is unforgivable.

We often say those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, and the Holocaust in and of itself is such a defining aatrocity that no one ever asks “which one?” But, so many often think of the devastating loss specifically to the Jewish population, and it can be easy to breeze past the inherent side quest the Nazi’s were on to eradicate themselves of genetic impurities beyond that of specifically their non-White population. As such, while there are hundreds of books, TV shows, and films dedicated to Jewish lives lost, not as many stories are told about the disabled men and women taken from their families, never to be heard from again. If we are doomed to repeat history, this is a part that is quietly being ignored, allowing a far greater chance of repetition. Hopefully, through Disposable Humanity, its audience, who won’t likely be entirely comprised of the disabled community, will be able to see and judge the consequences of this, and act as vessels in pursuing necessary reflection. It is sobering to think that had I been in Nazi Germany, I would have been part of this termination alongside millions of others. And considering disability can often be acquired, not being firmly against eugenics at every turn, is like playing with fire, since you might fall into the very category you believe needs to be extinguished. The times we live in are challenging and demanding, and it seems like our attention is needed so many places in the world, which is why it is so important to have a strong foundational education, so you aren’t just now learning about something you should have known about for decades, and are just now having to add to your queue of things to be enraged about.

No one asked me, but this is the best feature at the 2026 Reel Abilities Film Festival. I’ve seen as many of the features as I was allowed, and while I’m still putting out a few reviews, I know what is coming, and this one achieved the highest score. The only reason this doesn’t reach higher on a score, is that while director Michell decides to take a very stoic approach to this travesty, it can almost put you at arms length, with the lack of an emotional anchor, because he chooses to not specifically lean in on, or wring emotion from interviews. Other directors would pack more of a punch, but Mitchell knows what he’s talking about is a terrible thing, and that alone should be enough. it is, but when put against the scope of every film ever, and not just the films at this festival, I can’t say this is the absolute best documentary I’ve ever seen. One of, sure, and certainly headed for one of the best of this year, but it feels well suited for a high school history class, instead of a repeat viewing in someone’s film collection.

The film did of course have audio description, as every film at the festival did, which certainly helped with regard to who was talking, and why, but this is a little more talking head and therefore the audio description was mostly limited to that. It was fine for the format.

Possibly the least disposable documentary of the year, challenging its audience to reckon with an often forgotten aspect of the holocaust, and bringing a profound light to lives lost. An absolute must-see, and devastatingly effective.

Fresh: 9.0/10