26/13
Through the eyes of one strong-willed woman, the remarkable story of Irena Guth and the triumphs of the human spirit over devastating tragedy as she risks her life to save a generation of Jews from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Although this Canadian film received a much wider theatrical release in Canada than the typical Canadian film, for some reason its distributor, Elevation Pictures, decided not to give the film a large marketing budget. As a result, the film performed poorly at the box office and was pulled from most theaters by the end of its third week or opening. (approx. 2 minutes) The opening title card indicates that the events take place on the eastern border of Poland. . This region of Poland has been invaded by the Soviet Union. Yet the area is occupied by German forces… Irena Gut Opdijk: Who cares who we are? What we do is who we are. BoumMusic by Charles Trenet Lyrics by Charles Trenet Performed by Charlie and his orchestra. I fully admit that I haven’t kept up with current movie releases in recent years, as my knowledge is mostly ad hoc, based on what shows up on my streaming services. I hadn’t heard of this movie until I saw it on the Showtime map a few nights ago, I knew pretty much the same thing about each of the parties involved. Also, I rarely write ratings on IMDB, but in this case I’m drawn to it in light of the unfairly poor overall rating skewed by a review that I find absurd in every way. So on to the movie itself. As others have noted, the acting and production values may be different, but what a story! There’s more of Schindler’s List here, but it’s even more extraordinary, with the main character in a position that’s anything but privileged. Others have summed up the plot well; I won’t do it here, but as impressive as it is, the moral complexity and humanity of almost every character, even the Germans, and the jungle-eyed vision of a director who, while they are not the main villains here. The Soviets bear almost as much responsibility as the Nazis for their actions during this period, with many false “Good Fight” misnomers (as do so many other things that have no bearing on this film, such as the internment of Japanese Americans, our bombing of civilians in Germany and Japan, the indifference to the plight of European Jews, etc., etc. as well). I am often moved by great cinema, but I have to admit that I get a little more teary-eyed watching the stories of the real characters unfold during the closing credits (don’t miss this one!). It’s somewhere between an 8 and 9 for me, but it gets the benefit of the doubt for the greatness of the story and the need to increase the overall score here. I note that even though this film is not Polish, it is set there, creating a duo of two of the best films of recent years that I have seen, along with “Forgotten Love”. Highly recommended.