User reviews

A very well acted emotional story illustrating the atrocities of the Germans in WWII. I found some of the scenes very disturbing though thought provoking as to what depths the human race can sink to. Films like this must be made to capture new generations who far too often are ignorant of history or have history glossed over to maintain current day international relations and sensitivities.

More than a bit disappointed this wasn't a very realistic war drama actors hammering out lines in English with odd stilted vaguely Slavonic accents thrown in. Then the laborious romance matters then seemed to draw a veil over what was left of the realism in the movie and I'm sorry but with the milk maid plunging visuals I didn't need a 'We are Slavic' soundtrack to imagine that fantastic erotically charged Polish trash-pop entry in Eurovision 2014. It nearly won. Anyway. Then the flash forwards elements make use of over simplistic visual references - yes, it's the same place, again... And is there enough prosthetics? A shortage?

The basic storyline for the movie is actually quite emotional (no spoilers, I'm not going to give it away) and teh acting is good, as you might expect from the strong cast.

HOWEVER the direction is absolutely amateurish! There are so many ploy holes that you really have to be asleep not to ask "how did that happen" or "how de he/she know that, or see that?" You could say that most of these are due to a bad script but they all seem to be just a case of poor direction and directorial almost contempt for his audience. You could, I suppose, still enjoy teh movie but the plot holes make so much of the storyline not make sense that I don't see how.

Definitely not one that I could recommend and, by teh way, the Germans invaded Poland in Autumn 1939 and the Russian part of Poland in Summer 1941....

The filmmakers went to the trouble of shooting much of this movie in Poland, and maybe they benefited from something invisible in the atmosphere but there is rather little happening outdoors in the movie and I couldn't have told whether it was shot in Poland or in Poughkeepsie. Because so much of the film occurs in the small space of a peasant's hut, you could mistake it for a stage play with a few cinematic scenes tacked on. And the screenwriter, Motti Lerner, does in fact write mostly for the stage. It could be that audiences were surprised by the relative weight of the indoor part of the story, where everything depends on the interaction of the actors and their movement in a space no bigger than a stage; and by the relative weight of the interplay between the characters living in fear of the Nazis, as opposed to actual encounters with the Nazis themselves. But if you accept that the emphasis lies where it does, then you'll certainly be glad that for once Uri Barbash directed a script by an independently successful playwright rather than by his brother Benny (no offense intended). The actors do a great job of selling the story, and the script does a great job of showing a human dilemma of conflicting priorities with life and death at stake.

The film in a serious subject, but far too often the shaky cam forces the audience to look away missing much of this movie. If you like nausea and headaches check it out. Otherwise simply skip this one. Its really surprising to me that in a day in age when there is so much hardware available to directors to keep video smooth and professional that something like this could ever get made. Directors and Investors: It doesn't matter how good your script is, if you make your movie look like a middle school phone camera youtube video, we can't watch it.

I have seen many World War II documentaries and movies. Even more on the German caused Holocaust. Although this isn't focused on concentration camps like most of them are, this for some reason depicted the Jewish pain better than most.

This is a serious portrait of the suffering, pain and sacrifices of hideous Nazi occupation & the Jewish people.

I like the story unveiled by surviving Madam Planck 30 years later... the movie switches between the occupation to her finally sharing w her daughter of that life and village.

It is moving, only Emilia storyline too long, (time could have been spent on other aspects). We get the point early on that she is going to push too far, with tragic results to haunt her. Then the villager drunk cousin - too much of him. There was room to have one or two more characters in the story, versus overly drawn out storytelling like that.

Well worth watching - an earnest movie.

Breezeydoesit nailed it. As a father and grandfather of girls, the pain of the parents would have been indescribable. I find it impossible in movies of this nature to go beyond the story. Picky critiques do not cut it. Anyone who does this has never had children. The relentless evil of the Nazi regime is palpable.

I cannot understand how the average score of this movie is so low if most of the reviews are excellent. This is an intimate, subdued approach to the horrors of antisemitism, which for me has caused as strong an impression as super productions like Schindler's List. I will now do a bit of research on the character if Ida Fink and jew persecution in Poland. It's also a heartbreaking love story. Totally worth watching although a couple of scenes are really painful to witness.

This is one of the best holocaust dramas I've ever seen, maybe the best. Superbly acted, plotted, directed, photographed. Engrossing, emotional. I loved the flashbacks and "flash forwards", if that's the word. Every character is believable, and you feel for every one. The last five minutes are truly excellent.

The film is based on authentic material by Ida Fink, who lived through it all and wrote a book about it, and the film lives up to perfect realism and faithfulness to the horrible account of the destinies of just a few people out of the uncountable masses of victims in Poland during the war, both Jews and civilians. The story shows only the most brutal aspects of the Germans, there is not the slightest glimpse of any humanity in these cruel butchers, while we know there were exceptions. The acting is superb, there is no overacting in spite of some roles and occurrences inviting to exaggerations, but the restraint is perfect all the way, even as there are inevitable outbursts of passion and incidents. The circumstances of this film are very much reminding of Jerzy Kosinski's "The Painted Bird", as if you would expect him to appear as well as a fugitive in the Polish countryside. However, the atrocities are quite enough without him, and the inhuman horrors of the events are balanced by the eloquence of the composition, leading up to the magnificent concluding scenes, transporting the drama out into timelessness in a perfectly natural way. Everything is convincing and unfortunately more than convincing, bringing you into painfully close encounter with the very essence of the supreme inhumanity of war.