Héros ordinaires

Oh, wow, another film about the Holocaust?

Who could have possibly seen this coming? It's been at least five minutes since the last one, so we were clearly way, way overdue for another cinematic masterpiece.

Strap yourselves in and get ready for the usual narrative extravaganza!

We'll be revisiting the same tried-and-true serving of collective guilt, a side of shame, and of course, a helping of heroic resistance and unimaginable bravery, all topped off with just a sprinkle of quiet, humble reverence for that extra dash of sanctimony.

But dont worry, there's also plenty of time to rehash the victim card, because, let's be honest, nothing screams "groundbreaking cinema" like recycling the same old tropes and calling it art. Bravo!

Truly, a cinematic tour de force that, I'm sure faced no shortage of funding or accolades.

We absolutely, definitely needed this gem because who doesn't love a good rehash of emotional manipulation dressed up as storytelling?

The satellite system guide said this movie was recollections of Holocaust survivors about the Jewish Resistance fighters. I expected the usual series of difficult-to-understand interviews with old people about their experiences but my wife likes those so we watched.

The thing is, this wasn't about the camps. It was about the Resistance, which most of us know nothing of. Truly heroic stuff about guys who formed guerrilla camps in the forests to blow up Nazi troop and supply trains and bridges and heated and wrapped the rails around tree trunks. One guy stayed in the city with some friends and proceeded to don uniforms of dead Nazi officers and SS in order to infiltrate their meetings and then run off and rescue those Jews the Nazis were about to raid. I can't do the excitement of it all justice.

The form is clear interviews with both historians and survivors along with actual film footage of the Resistance activities of contemporary semblance thereof. It's like American Experience with Ben Kingsley taking over for David McCullough. Well worthwhile from many points of view.

Unlikely Heroes is one of those documentaries you start to watch knowing you will see atrocious things, where you will question the inhumanity some "people" are capable of, a documentary that you watch in silent, speechless and sad. But it's also a documentary about hope in humanity, when you see that there are still people that will risk everything just to help others, to save lives of people they don't even know. The footage is amazing, the stories incredible and full of courage and generosity. This documentary should be a mandatory watch. People that deny the Holocaust (which is rightfully punishable in some countries) should watch this, maybe they'll turn their hatred and ignorance into something positive for once. That somebody has the crazy idea to exterminate a whole race is one thing, but that thousands of others follow those orders without questioning themselves is something else. I will never understand how somebody can follow orders they don't approve, it will always remain a mystery to me. Each story of those almost unknown heroes is remarkable and worth telling. You could make a movie about every single hero in this well made documentary, they should do this as they all deserved to be remembered for their courage and generosity. Some of the footage is hard to watch, it's hard but necessary, just so we could understand what atrocities took place, so we could learn that something like that should never happen again. Those heroes all deserve a statue somewhere, they are the real heroes of that time. The black and white images of that era are hard to watch, almost unbearable, but it's good we can witness what happened in all those countries, never forget, never forgive.