{"id":124215,"date":"2024-05-19T23:33:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T22:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/?p=2040119"},"modified":"2024-05-19T23:33:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T22:33:18","slug":"irenas-vow-speaks-to-our-tragic-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/irenas-vow-speaks-to-our-tragic-times\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Irena\u2019s Vow\u2019 Speaks to Our Tragic Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why was it necessary to make “Irena\u2019s Vow” in this day and age?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Must we have yet another drama about the Holocaust, especially another flirting with \u201cGentile Savior\u201d cliches?<\/p>\n

So much about the topic has already been said on film. Did we really need to make yet another one when there are already so many others out there, both dramatizations and documentaries alike?<\/p>\n

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Sadly, yes.<\/p>\n

Antisemitism and other bigotries continue to choke us in what is supposed to be mankind’s most enlightened era.<\/p>\n

Look at what happened in Israel on October 7 (I saw the movie at the Windsor International Film Festival just three weeks after those terrible events) and what has been raging in Ukraine for the past three years. Look also at news coming from China, Turkey and Azerbaijan, even if they don\u2019t get the headlines they deserve.<\/p>\n

Maybe even peer out your window, especially if you live in a college town or major city. Some are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza while calling for the destruction of an entire nation.<\/p>\n

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Even take a hard glance at elected representatives who refuse to take a stand against Hamas\u2019s barbarism and Putin\u2019s butchery. There are still stories from nearly a century ago that have yet to be told but must be recounted for the lessons they impart about our present crises.<\/p>\n

We will always need to be reminded over and over again not just of this disgraceful chapter in human history, but also of those brave souls who defied evil and put human life ahead of all else.<\/p>\n

Irena Gut (later Opdyke) was one such soul.<\/p>\n

A nurse living in Tarnopol in eastern Poland during the Nazi Occupation, she hid 12 Jewish factory workers in the cellar of the home of Wehrmacht officer Eduard Rugemer, for whom she was working as a housekeeper. He allowed her to work for him after noting her German-sounding name and \u201cAryan-looking\u201d appearance meant she probably wasn\u2019t \u201ctoo Polish\u201d for the Gestapo.<\/p>\n

When Rugemer found out the truth, she forced Gut to become his mistress under the threat of informing his superiors of her actions. Having no choice, Irena went along with his blackmail, but as depicted in the film, she in turn forced him to confront his conscience and question his role in the Nazi regime.<\/p>\n

“Irena\u2019s Vow” recounts this harrowing story with sensitivity but also an appropriate sense of urgency and desperation. Sophie N\u00e9lisse, who is quickly maturing into a fine actress, gives a quiet, low-key performance suiting both the character of the real-life person she plays as well as the dire situation she found herself trapped in.<\/p>\n

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Ten years earlier, the teenage N\u00e9lisse also gave a fine performance in the similarly-themed “The Book Thief,” but the much smaller “Irena\u2019s Vow” is a better movie. The latter more honestly deals with the evils of the era.<\/p>\n

As Rugemer, Dougray Scott is better than usual. He still tends to overdo it in certain scenes (this habit nearly killed his once-promising career), but this time he\u2019s been able to add some nuance to his performance.<\/p>\n

He finds humanity in his characterization, just as the real-life Rugemer eventually found it in himself.<\/p>\n

Director Louise Archambault<\/a> is part of an exciting new generation of Quebecois filmmakers that includes Xavier Dolan and Denis Villeneuve of “Dune” fame, She hasn’t received their level of international recognition yet, but it will likely come calling.<\/p>\n

Her work is suffused with a sort of Bressonian humanism and genuine empathy that is rarely found in contemporary cinema, at least in North America. Archambault\u2019s previous film “Gabrielle” was my favorite movie of 2013, a beautifully acted and masterfully directed story of a young woman with Williams Syndrome struggling to achieve independence.<\/p>\n

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The same year as “Irena\u2019s Vow” she also directed “One Summer,” a gentle comedy about a parish priest who brings the local homeless with him on a much-needed vacation. Her films don\u2019t merely take a compassionate look at the less fortunate but are commentaries on the very nature of compassion itself.<\/p>\n

She reveals the complexities and difficulties that arise when we assist the less fortunate or those in desperate need of assistance (“Gabrielle” is as much about the family members and volunteers trying to help the title character as it is about her and others in her situation) yet suggests things will work out for the best when we ultimately do what is right.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Quiver Distribution (@quiverdistribution)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n