Broken Dreams

Tomasz Magierski’s Holocaust documentary tells the story of Renia and Ariana Spiegel, sisters from Przemyśl in southeastern Poland, a region invaded by the Germans in 1939 but then divided between German and Soviet forces until 1941 when the Russians were forced out in Operation Barbarossa. Much of the tale is told by the younger Ariana, who survived the war by joining her mother Roza in Warsaw and being baptized, along with her, as a Catholic (and winning the protection of a Nazi officer); both emigrated to New York after the war. Ariana also relates her days as a child star—the Polish Shirley Temple—and periodically performs songs and poems on a theatre stage. By contrast, her older sister lived in the ghetto and joined the resistance. She kept a diary until she was killed by the Nazis in 1942, excerpts from which are read by actress Aleksandra Bernatek, who looks directly into the camera in reciting them; the final entry, written by her boyfriend Zygmunt Schwarzer who tried but failed to save her and eventually brought her diary to Ariana in America, is read by actor Dawid Suliba. Expertly edited, with a wide range of photographs and archival footage to complement the extensive excerpts from interviews with Ariana and readings by Bernatek and Suliba, Magierski’s film is a touching tribute to two sisters who testified in different ways to the brutality the Nazis brought to their homeland and the courage with which they faced it. Recommended. (F. Swietek)