In Darkness

Set during WWII, circa 1943, director Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness focuses on the plight of besieged Jews of Lvov, Poland. Led by wealthy Ignacy and Paulina Chiger (Herbert Knaup, Maria Schrader)—along with their two young children and friends—a desperate group escapes from the ghetto and heads underground, but are discovered by contemptuous sewer inspector/petty thief Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz). Socha accepts money to keep them in hiding, cramped in the dark recesses of the dank, rat-infested subterranean tunnels. Initially anti-Semitic, Socha's attitude changes, particularly when his Catholic wife points out that the Holy Mother and Jesus were Jewish. Risking not only his life but his family's, ambivalent yet courageous Socha continues to deliver food and supplies, despite menacing threats from his friend Bortnik (Michal Zurawski), a Ukrainian Nazi officer who urges Socha to turn the Jews in for a monetary reward. Inspired by Krystyna Chiger's memoir The Girl in the Green Sweater, In Darkness is a harrowing, powerful film presented with hard-hitting documentary-like realism. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include "An Evening with Agnieszka Holland" interview with the director (30 min.), an "In Light” segment featuring Holland and real-life survivor Krystyna Chiger" (29 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a powerful foreign film.] (S. Granger)