"In Darkness" is the true story of a man who saved a dozen Jews in Poland after the Nazi invasion, which started World War II, put all Jewish people in mortal danger.
Much of this film takes place in the sewers under the city of Lvov where our protagonist is a sewer worker. He is the most knowledgeable person in town about the underworld. The world beneath the city is a kind of dark, wet hell, and Leopold Sucha, our tour guide, shows "his jews" around like Ovid guided Dante through the "Inferno."
In addition to slogging around in unclean waters, the cast fights off a lot of rats. Rats are ubiquitous, crawling around in most of the scenes. This is not a heart-warming, feel-good film. This film succeeds in making the viewer feel very uncomfortable most of the time.
As the Nazis begin to close down the Ghetto, a few men are seen digging under the floor of their home, attempting to create an escape route into the city sewer system. They do so just in the nick of time. The Nazi's are rounding up everyone as their friends and neighbors slide through a narrow hole into the sewer system.
As harshly as this film portrays the cold-blooded Nazi's, the film does not draw sentimental portraits of the victims either. One is hard- pressed to find heroism in the victims. Bickering, fighting and selfishness surface quickly to create more tension. At times, the fights and yelling are at exactly the wrong moment and could doom the group.
Caught between Nazi's he doesn't like and the "his Jews" who he doesn't care much about at first, Sucha tries to make extra money by hiding the refugees from the Ghetto and charging them for food and essentials.
He is conflicted at first, but the unrelenting savageness of the Nazi occupiers eventually turns Sucha toward a more sympathetic view of the people in his care. They do not make it easy. They accuse him of betrayal, attempt to kill him and do unspeakable things themselves. It would have been possible to forgive him if he had given up on them, but his own decency begins to turn him toward the salvation of "his Jews."
A reluctant hero, he risks his life and takes great risks to keep them safe from Nazis and natural disasters.
The movie is complex because there are so many character conflicts, so many nationalities and so many languages being spoken. The characters are not black and white, good and evil. There are times when the complexity becomes disorienting.
Unwise actions of the characters and the sense of danger make you squirm. And, well, the sewer is a really dark, filthy place to live for 14 months.
It's difficult to watch, but it is worth seeing.
Much of this film takes place in the sewers under the city of Lvov where our protagonist is a sewer worker. He is the most knowledgeable person in town about the underworld. The world beneath the city is a kind of dark, wet hell, and Leopold Sucha, our tour guide, shows "his jews" around like Ovid guided Dante through the "Inferno."
In addition to slogging around in unclean waters, the cast fights off a lot of rats. Rats are ubiquitous, crawling around in most of the scenes. This is not a heart-warming, feel-good film. This film succeeds in making the viewer feel very uncomfortable most of the time.
As the Nazis begin to close down the Ghetto, a few men are seen digging under the floor of their home, attempting to create an escape route into the city sewer system. They do so just in the nick of time. The Nazi's are rounding up everyone as their friends and neighbors slide through a narrow hole into the sewer system.
As harshly as this film portrays the cold-blooded Nazi's, the film does not draw sentimental portraits of the victims either. One is hard- pressed to find heroism in the victims. Bickering, fighting and selfishness surface quickly to create more tension. At times, the fights and yelling are at exactly the wrong moment and could doom the group.
Caught between Nazi's he doesn't like and the "his Jews" who he doesn't care much about at first, Sucha tries to make extra money by hiding the refugees from the Ghetto and charging them for food and essentials.
He is conflicted at first, but the unrelenting savageness of the Nazi occupiers eventually turns Sucha toward a more sympathetic view of the people in his care. They do not make it easy. They accuse him of betrayal, attempt to kill him and do unspeakable things themselves. It would have been possible to forgive him if he had given up on them, but his own decency begins to turn him toward the salvation of "his Jews."
A reluctant hero, he risks his life and takes great risks to keep them safe from Nazis and natural disasters.
The movie is complex because there are so many character conflicts, so many nationalities and so many languages being spoken. The characters are not black and white, good and evil. There are times when the complexity becomes disorienting.
Unwise actions of the characters and the sense of danger make you squirm. And, well, the sewer is a really dark, filthy place to live for 14 months.
It's difficult to watch, but it is worth seeing.