Sous la ville

The film tells the story of Leopold Socha, who helped Jews during the Nazi occupation of Lvov, a city in Poland. Socha is a sewer worker and one day he encounters a group of Jews trying to escape through the underground. He decides to hide them in exchange for money. It's a powerful story and center of attraction goes to Robert Wieckiewicz's character Socha. It's always hard to execute Holocaust movies and this film offers a new equation to the Holocaust films. It was Poland's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign language film, but lost to 'A Separation'. Overall, it's a powerful film with most of the sequences shot in dark atmosphere and At the same time it's horrifying and intense too.

While there have been other movies dealing with Holocaust this one is unique in its complexity. It takes place in Lvov, town populated by a number of ethnic groups which had coexisted in an uneasy truce in a sort of a Tower of Babel which first the Russian and then the German occupations easily destroyed.

The mix of peoples is apparent by the mix of languages spoken: Polish, Yiddish, Ukrainian, German . The subtitles by the way are excellent and easy to follow.

The movie shows the risks involved in helping Jews under the German occupation a very important but often forgotten point. Heart wrenching scenes caused more than one person to wipe their tears in this Polish audience. The humanity of Socha the imperfect hero makes him one of the most heart warming characters that I recall.

This movie is a thriller, a morality tale and in some ways reminds one of a classic Western where honor, justice and love survive under most adverse circumstances.

I watched this 5 days ago, and still find it in my mind - in the middle of the night/ while shopping/ washing/ walking down the street.

I don't think I will ever forget it.

Film is dramatic, tense, witty, and above all haunting.

A remarkable film, there is nothing more I can say.

I would just add that the acting is really good.

The story breaks my heart.

The film makes vivid a story from our history, a history that should not ever be forgotten.

There is something compelling in remembering the Nazi atrocities, and also in viewing films about them.

Watching this film, I felt part of a shared experience - respecting and grieving all the people who died and suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

It's WWII in German-occupied Polish city Lwów. Leopold Socha is a sewer worker and an opportunist looking to enrich himself with Jewish gold. At first, he and his co-worker friend Szczepek Wróblewski help the Jews but only for a price. However, the danger of discovery mounts. Some people get suspicious. Leopold finds himself alone hiding his group even after they run out of money.

The obvious holocaust movie comparison is the great 'Schindler's List'. Of course, there is similarity between Schindler and Socha. However the characters in this movie seem move gritty. It's more than the grungy sewer location. It is the people's pettiness and ugly racism. It's not just the Germans, or the Ukranians or the Poles. It's also the Jews. For most of the movie, the motives are not high-minded. Fear and the survival instincts hold sway. The eventual idealism comes not as a single revelation as Schindler riding his horse watching the ghetto be liquidated. It comes in a series of steps that moves forward and backwards. More than once, Socha almost abandons his Jews and almost as many times, Socha is about to be killed by his Jews. This is more gritty and compelling in a different way. Socha is a hero almost by chance but it is his humanity overcoming his fears that is the true story. He is no mover and shaker. He is a blue collar grunt and he risks the little that he had for the sake of strangers. Filming in the narrow confines of the sewer set does limit the visual scale. It doesn't always provide the best views.

I watched this movie a few days back and I'm still contemplating what I saw. It took me a while until I decided to watch it. I thought I saw enough movies about The Second World War and about The Holocaust in particular. But after watching it I was almost ashamed that I could think like this. It's not like I'm ignorant, I just think that movies about war are always too simple – so I prefer to read books rather than watch movies. But this movie is different. I was touched very deeply and I don't regret any second spent on watching it.

The script is focused around the characters and maybe that is the strongest part of it. The war is only the background. We see how people can change and how they act when the tension around is almost unbearable. We see the brightest and the darkest side of humanity. And maybe what is most important here, we see common people. Without guns, without any special abilities – true, honest characters with all their doubts, needs and desires. Only the circumstances are not common, so our characters try to deal with them. The word "our" characters is not an accident. I felt very close to these characters – bad or good, it didn't matter – they were almost naked in their emotions. And I think it's very true: in the horror of the war you don't have the time or the strength to hide behind some kind of curtain. No matter to what God we pray, what language we speak, in the end we are all human – and it's our choice, what we make of our humanity.

Preferably watch it in the movie theater. Only then it is possible to experience the grand play of lights and the perfect work of the camera. In this movie also this aspect has its strong impact on the viewer.

I would say while watching this movie, I felt like I was in the very same place as our characters. It's very rare for me to have such feelings, so for me it's the best proof that this movie is in some way exceptional. I thought how I would act in situations the characters are in and I'm glad that I haven't been and I hope I never will be.

And I keep thinking that I'm very thankful for the creators, producers and the whole crew for this movie!