2 min) The opening title card states that the events take place on the eastern border of Poland
Plot
Through the eyes of a strong-willed woman comes the remarkable story of Irena Gut and the triumph of human spirit over a devastating tragedy as she risked her life to save a generation of Jews from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Although this Canadian film received a much wider theatrical release in Canada than the typical Canadian film, for some reason its distributor, Elevation Pictures, decided not to give the film a significant marketing budget. As a result, the film performed poorly at the box office, and was pulled from most theaters in its third week or the end of its release. (approx.
The Soviets occupied this area of Poland
Yet they are occupied by the Germans. Irena Gut Opdyke: What does it matter who we are? What we do is who we are. BoumMusic Charles TrenetLyrics Charles Trenet Performed by Charlie and his orchestra.
Her villa, confiscated from a Polish family
Irena’s Promise Besides tarring the Nazis, I like other types of WWII movies that feature unsung heroes who were able to save small groups of Jews. Irena’s Promise stars Irena Gut, a Polish woman who was forced into service by the occupying Germans in the city of Tarnopol (now Ternopol in Ukraine). While working for Major Rügemer, she is assigned to supervise the laundry and then as a housekeeper. When she sees that all the people in the laundry are being executed as part of Hitler’s plan, she plans to hide them in the same house where the Major now lives.
If this weren’t a true story, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it
It was so poorly acted that I felt like I was watching a modern movie with costumes, instead of being transported back in time to the crazy era of Nazi madness. It becomes pretty clear, sort of, early on that Rügemer has a thing for Irena, but it catapults forward when she discovers that there are Jews hiding in her home. The speed and transformation from Polish lover to better was so fast that it made no sense, as Irena did a great job of conveying the emotions of compassion, panic, fear, terror, and the courage needed to survive. After witnessing a child being murdered on the street by another disgraced “German,” she really dived into her risky plan to save as many Jews as she could because I wanted to love this in the depths of despair, because the courage that was there wasn’t entirely well done.
The acting was really sweet
I don’t know, and I can’t put my finger on it, but I felt like it could have been done better. I’m just glad it actually happened and people went on to live full lives.