hEre is an extraordinary, true, real story. For more than two years during World War II, a teenager named Irene Gut kept 12 Polish Jews safe from the Nazis hidden underground just below their boss, a Nazi officer. After the war, Gut moved to America, and until the mid-1970s he never spoke a word about her wartime experiences. Now, her incredible courage and heroism story is told very politely in an English drama that feels a little too clever in a place to say anything about the horrors of Nazism.
Sophie Nelisse plays Ilena, a Polish trainee nurse who was forced into slavery by the Germans after the occupation in 1939, and first works in a hotel factory. Later, Nazi executive Lugemer (Dugray Scott), chooses her as his housekeeper. And when she moves into his vast villa, Irena sneaks into a group of Jewish prisoners she oversees at the hotel. When Rugemer is out during the day, the hideout comes out of the cellar and whatever stops him from making good promises to bring more staff to help with cooking and cleaning. The film doesn't go too far with the experiences of most young Jews 12. The fear and boredom, and the tension they must have felt, are packed together each month.
At the weakest moments, Irena's vows feel shallow. There are scenes where the mind needs to be stopped, but it should be a little flat. However, there are some scary scenes in the town. Irena is forced to be forced to see the hanging of the whole family in her arms of a Jewish man.
This film gives us a rather sacred portrait of Irena. This is a treatment for a slightly unhappy character. It's a shame that the most fleshed-out character is Nazi officer Ryugemer, a repulsive man in his 60s.
