In Darkness

There have been may films about the atrocities against the Jews during World War II. In Darkness is a feature film, based on a true story of Leopold Socha, a sewer worker, who, as a result of his profession and knowledge of these underground tunnels becomes a hero just as Oskar Schindler of Schindler's List did.
This film felt a tad bit long. I think there were moments in the first half of the movie that could have been cut out (the runtime was 145 minutes), but as the film continued, it just got better and better.
What stood out in this film? I'm not sure. I loved Schindler's List, but I can't think of something in particular that I loved. Well, there was the amazing score John Williams. I didn't notice this film's score to be be something extra special (I would assume, because it's a week later, and I can't seem to remember the music in detail), so I guess it can't be that. In Schindler's List, there was the girl with the red coat. In this film, there was a girl in blue boots. The cast was very good in both films. The subject matter, was of course, very powerful. I guess there wasn't one thing that I can pinpoint as to why this film was incredible, but it definitely was.
One thing to note is that instead of 'Hollywood' actors playing the roles and speaking in English, this film used Polish actors speaking in Polish and German. This was one of the director's, Agnieszka Holland's important pieces of the film. Apparently she was approach a couple time to make the film, but she hesitated, not really wanting to go back to this topic and also to not do a typical Hollywood blockbuster take on it.
Before the screening, director Agnieszka Holland introduced her film and brought many people from her team along with a couple actors up on stage. It seemed like a very long intro to me, as I thought we could just as easily met these folks afterwards during the Q&A...but there wasn't one. After the film, the director came back onstage (to a standing ovation), and once the audience had taken their seats again, she brought up that little girl with the blue boots onstage. I've forgotten her name, but she wrote a book about her experiences and this was of course an inspiration for the film. A few words of thanks and then they walked off-stage and the lights came on. I wonder why they decided not to do a Q&A?
So I'll definitely recommend the film. You'll get all of the same emotions that you would watching Schindler's List. Schindler's List is an award winning film and this one, although I have no idea if it's going to get picked up for wide-release, it's just as emotional. Of course there were many moments where emotions were running high, but there was one stand-out moment in which the entire audience gasped. Incredible.

- picture courtesy of www.tiff.net