Starring: Robert Robert Więckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis
Directed by: Agnieszka Holland
Rating: ★★★★☆
Is it enough to simply tell a true tale of heroism in the face of persecution to win the respect of critics and moviegoers? Agnieszka Holland’s latest feature manages to both thrill and move audiences without resorting to moral blackmail.
Set in the city of Lviv (then in Poland, now in Ukraine) during the Nazi occupation, W ciemności (In Darkness) details the bravery of Leopold Socha (Robert Więckiewicz) – a modern Charon who, initially, takes money to conceal a group of Jews in the city’s sewers. Later his motives become less mercenary as he puts his own and his family’s lives at risk to protect his charges.
The sewers where ‘his Jews,’ as Leopold would later call them, survive for 14 months are a million miles from the romantic bunker caked with blood and heroism depicted in Wajda’s classic Kanał (The Sewer, 1957). In Holland’s vision they are a filthy and nauseating maze where hope goes to die. When it comes to the escape through stairwells and channels, Holland’s long takes are every bit as sharp and enveloping as Kathryn Bigelow’s point-of-view shots.
Despite its sumptuously orchestrated confusion of tongues, including a Lviv dialect of Polish, called Bałak, which the extraordinary Więckiewicz learned for the movie, In Darkness is finding acclaim worldwide. Holland looks close to becoming the first Pole to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on February 23, 2012