OVP: In Darkness (2011)

Film: In Darkness (2011)
Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader, Marcin Bosak, Kinga Preis
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Poland)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

There are few things that I loathe more than the words "Based on a True Story" before a film.  Nine times out of ten, this indicates to me two things.  One, that I'm almost certainly familiar with the story that's unfolding-you may not have to be an expert on the lives of Ray Charles or Margaret Thatcher or George VI to know how things are going to progress on screen.  And two, the gloss is coming out-movies about true events, biopics in particular, tend to sanctify their main subject in order to make it easier to identify with them.  Never mind that all human beings have flaws and doubts-with biopics, those flaws and doubts are few and far between, and we all know how it will work out in the end.  So, imagine how surprised I was to find In Darkness both a story that I was on the edge of my chair for and one with a hugely-flawed, but deeply redeeming main character.

(Spoilers abound) I unfortunately have to plead ignorance for my lack of knowledge about Leopold "Poldek" Socha (Wieckiewicz), a Polish burglar that managed to keep ten Jews alive during World War II with his extensive knowledge of his city's sewer systems.  The film opens with Poldek robbing a house with his friend and partner Szczepek, and slowly we are introduced to the Nazi-occupied city.  As the Jews are being shipped to the concentration camps-Socha strikes a bargain with one of the men-he will provide food for them and not report them to the Nazis, in exchange for $500 a week.

As the film progresses, Socha continues to have an internal war with himself, and while this is a true story, and so you assume he's never going to renege on his promise of secrecy, his motives are a constant guessing game, and at times you wonder whether or not he will abandon the group when the money inevitably dries up.  Some of the film's most jarring scenes revolve around this internal debate, particularly those involving his wife (well-played by Kinga Preis).  She seems to go back-and-forth throughout the film, both finding the persecution morally reprehensible, but also is greatly worried about her husband's safety and her family's security.  When her husband comes with a box of jewelry that the Chiger family has to fund the weekly payments, she doesn't let on how she feels, she just resumes her laundry and doesn't address her husband.  Ultimately, though, the two proceed with helping the families, even funding their food when the money is all gone.

The film also shows a realism few Holocaust films have been able to muster.  The film allows very little bright light throughout the sewer scenes (which make up the bulk of the film), and so you are left with a huge amount of claustrophobia throughout the entire film.  The film shows the many complications of the tight living quarters, including two of the side characters having sex while others pretend not to hear, and eventually, trying to have a silent birth when one of the two characters becomes pregnant.  There's also the heart-breaking moments where several people choose the concentration camps over the sewers, not knowing what either end will bring.  The film keeps you glued to the edge of your seat the entire film, as well, if you don't know how the movie will end-though you assume happy endings with true stories, I honestly can say that I doubted it, particularly as the sewers flooded toward the end of the film.

I will admit, though, it was the staple "what happened next" text that ends every true story that had me sobbing the most.  Socha would only live a year longer, when he would die in an accident while saving his child from an oncoming Soviet truck.  All of the men and women that he had saved came to the funeral, and he was still being chastised for helping save them even after the war had ended by some of his fellow townspeople.  It was a sobering slide, but an unsettling and frightening fact that hatred and bigotry don't subside the second a white flag is raised.  Holland ends the film by pointing out that both Socha and his wife would be honored as "Righteous Among the Nations," an honor given to those non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from the Nazis.

And with that, I've nearly completed Academy Awards Class of 2011-just one more film to go (and it should hopefully be in from Netflix on Wednesday), and then we will be looking at the entire year as a whole, but first, what are your thoughts on In Darkness?  Did you find it as moving as I, or did you find it a bit long?  And how does it rank alongside the other four films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011?