43/46
Told through the perspective of a strong-willed woman, the remarkable story of Irena Gut and the triumphs of the human spirit over a devastating tragedy as she risked her life to save a generation of Jews from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Although this Canadian film was released in far larger theaters in Canada than the typical Canadian film, for some reason the distributor, Elevation Pictures, chose not to allocate a significant marketing budget to the film. As a result, the film performed poorly at the box office and was pulled from most theaters by the end of its third week of release. (at about 2 minutes) The opening titles announce that the events take place on the east coast. border with Poland. This area of Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union. Yet the area is occupied by German forces. Irena Gut Opdyke: What Does It Matter Who We Are? What We Do Is Who We Are. BoumMusic by Charles TrenetLyrics by Charles TrenetPerformed by Charlie and His Orchestra. I must admit that I haven’t been particularly well informed about current film releases in recent years, relying mostly on ad hoc what shows up on my streaming services. I hadn’t heard of this film until I saw it on Showtime a few nights ago, and knew pretty much the same thing about everyone involved. I also rarely write notes on IMDB, but in this case I’m blown away by the undeservedly mediocre overall rating, skewed by a review that seems ridiculous to me in every way. Now, onto the film itself. As others have noted, the acting and production quality can vary, but what a story! The whole thing is a bit reminiscent of Schindler’s List, but what’s even more extraordinary is that the protagonist here is anything but in a privileged position. Others have summed up the plot well; I won’t do that here, but as impressive as this is as a story, what’s even more impressive is the moral complexity and humanity of nearly all of the characters, even the Germans, and the astute vision of the filmmaker who, while they may not be the primary villains here, does have the Soviets almost as much to answer for their actions during this time as the Nazis did, which belies the “good fight,” a misnomer (as do so many other things that have nothing at all to do with this film, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans, our bombing of civilian populations in Germany and Japan, the indifference to the plight of European Jews, etc., etc.). Great films often move me, but I must admit that the sequel stories of the real-life characters that play during the credits (don’t miss them!) bring more than a few tears to my eyes. For me, the whole thing scores between 8 and 9, but given the greatness of the story and the need to bump the overall score up here, it gets the benefit of the doubt. I note that while this film is not Polish, it is set there, which makes it, along with Forgotten Love, one of the best films I’ve seen in recent years. Highly recommended.