One of the films nominated for this year’s Foreign Language Oscar race is the Polish film, In Darkness, directed by Agnieszka Holland and starring Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader and Herbert Knaup.
Based on a true story, the film follows Leopold Socha, a sewage employee and petty thief who discovers a group of Jews in his sewer attempting to escape the Nazi liquidation of the Ghetto in Lvov, Poland. Socha decides that instead of turning the Jews in for a reward, he would hide them deep within the sewer system in exchange for money. As you might imagine, what starts off as a simple business exchange of money for protection evolves into Socha growing a conscience and dedicating his life to the protection of these men, women and children for the next 14 months.
When In Darkness starts, Holland makes sure not to waste any time in telling you that you’ll be in for a seriously dramatic ride. She opens with Socha robbing a house and during the getaway he witnesses a group of screaming women running naked through the forest only to be gunned down by Nazi soldiers. It’s a pretty powerful way to open the film up but luckily for us she follows it up with a little bit of humor to show that even in times of darkness there can still be a glimmer of hope, humor and heart.
While the acting and directing is very good in this film, the main reason to see it is because of how extraordinary the story actually is. When you watch the film you are able to see Socha’s conscience and belief system slowly shift from that of a greedy businessman to one with a humanitarian mindset. Additionally, he becomes so dedicated to helping these people that he begins to lose touch with his friends and family, sacrificing his loved ones for the sake of a group of people he had a simple business arrangement with. It’s the evolution of Socha’s character that drives the film and may even have you drawing comparisons to Schindler’s List, but unfortunately In Darkness is not nearly as captivating as that masterpiece.
As mentioned, there are a number of reasons to see this film, most of them having to with the admirable risks that Leopold Socha made while living in Nazi occupied Lvov, and while I completely understand why this film nominated for an Oscar, I rarely found myself getting caught up in the feature and felt like it wasn’t engaging me. There is no doubt that this is a quality picture but I rarely felt inclined to feel for all the characters despite the circumstances. What bothers me though is that Holland presents the story in a way that forces you to care rather than giving you an option to feel for some characters and not others. That may sound completely wrong but if the subject matter was different then I think you’d understand what I’m saying.
Lastly, one piece of advice that I’d like to give you is that when you sit down for the movie you should make sure that you are in it for the long haul because with a running time of 145 minutes you won’t have many lighthearted distractions from all the suffering that you’ll witness on screen.
While it may not be my cup of tea, In Darkness is able to successfully shine a light on a holocaust story that has never hit the silver screen before. It is an important picture because of its ability to show that even in history’s darkest times, there is always going to be a glimmer of hope through the compassion of individuals who are willing to put their lives on the line, despite their initial motivation. If you’re like me and interested in foreign WWII films then you should consider taking a look at In Darkness, otherwise there’s really no need to see it immediately (unless it wins the Oscar).
Rating: An inspiring story that lacks the cinematic gravitational pull one would hope for (6.3/10)
Recent Comments