Misha and the Wolves

Misha and the Wolves (2021) was written and directed by Sam Hobkinson.

The Misha in the title is Misha Defonseca, who tells the harrowing story of of her childhood during the Holocaust. She tell about leaving her home and walking through the woods. During this terrible time, she is helped by a pack of wolves.

What happens next is the plot of the film. This is a movie definitely worth seeing. However, if you read the reviews of critics or watch the trailer, you'll lose some of the enjoyment of the film. My suggestion is to rent it, watch it, and then see what others have written.

This movie has a weak IMDb rating of 6.7. I thought that it was much better than that, and rated it 8.

It's an amazing story with its own unexpected turns. One has his/her own way of looking at Misha and her story. The detective work of Belgian Evelyne Haendel, a Holocaust survivor herself, is remarkable. She was really persistent. In the end, Deborah Dwork's words ring true. Misha's story affects the story of all other Holocaust survivors.

The artist's sketches to aid in storytelling are noteworthy.

Amazing twists and turns. Good editing and images. Unpredictable outcome.

The one thing I will give this documentary is that it was unexpected. There were a few 'bombshell' moments that I did not see coming, and were handled very well by the film makers. The story was unique, the people interviewed relevant, and the storyline flowed well. Not a perfect doc, but conveyed a strong message and for the most part kept neutral.

The film documents the story of Misha and the people it impacted. The documentary then pulls away the layers of truth and deception and reveals the shocking motives Misha may have had for telling her tale.

I'm left with perhaps more sympathy for Misha than the filmmakers. Her childhood taught her social cruelty, that people could label you and punish you based on a narrative. Why then, would she feel any guilt over controlling her own narrative and benefitting from it? The cruelty that she endured as a war orphan did not teach her empathy; she learned that people would only sympathize with her if the narrative was right. A Holocaust survivor calls Misha "villain and victim;" the film, perhaps, fails to mention the real wolves of the story: the Belgians who judged an orphan by events out of her control and taught her to lie to avoid public humiliation.