Stairs in Movies

I wanted to like this film, but I found myself reminded over and over again of Viktor Frankl's book about his experience in a concentration camp: he said that after just a short time there almost no emotional response was possible except in nightmares (which he wouldn't wake anyone from, as the nightmare was typically more pleasant than the reality), and that furthermore the prisoners were so malnourished that they lost their libido and weren't sure if it would ever return. So in watching this film I had a problem with suspension of disbelief exacerbated by the silly (historically inaccurate) task of moving rocks, since people in concentration camps had straightforward useful tasks. I realize what the film was trying to do, but I think the reality of the situation was less neatly dramatized, less symbolic, and altogether more bleak and ugly.