My Name Is Sara

I loved everything about about this poignant, true story of SARA GÓRALNIK! I went to a webinar about how the movie was developed and filmed. It was painful for the real Sara Goralnik to talk about her life, but the film had voice. I felt it told the true story. The lead actress Zuzanna Surowy was chosen to play the part of Sara even though she had no prior professional acting experience and was in high school. Her portrayal showed exquisite depth. The other roles were well cast and realistically depicted. The characters were not admirable, but the actors showed that peer pressure and flaws of moral judgment cause people to act with disrespect, selfishness, and lack of empathy. Yet, at times you could see a moment of kindness in people who controlled Sara's life. Suzanna portrayed the inner strength of the real Sara who had promised her parents to survive. The cinematography was artfully and beautifully done. I am not a film critic, but I am a film lover. This movie told a story that needs to be experienced again and again so that the horrors of the Holocaust will "never again" happen!!! I highly recommend seeing it...I will never forget "My Name is Sara!"

This was a wonderful film. Had I known when watching it that it was a true story I would have been even more immersed. The Nazis and the persecution of the Jews takes a back seat to what is really a movie about people living in the country in that region during the war and the interactions between the lead character Sara and the other two main characters. The acting is completely believable. There is nothing contrived. Nothing felt like padding. So glad that movies like this are being made. A true education about human beings.

Outstanding sweep of the complexities of surviving in wartime. The fact that it is a true story adds needed perspective to how vulnerable everyone is when mad men reign. Particularly touching as we consider the current Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. I recommend this to everyone!

The main actress who plays Sara pulls you in from the very beginning. You dont know what is going to happen and you want her to survive. Very good acting

My Name Is Sara (2019) was directed by Steven Oritt. It stars Zuzanna Surowy as Sara. Sara is from Poland. Her family is destroyed by the German occupiers, but she manages to escape over the border into Ukraine.

Sara is able to convince the farmers that she's Christian. (It's not clear whether they believe her, or whether they just need another farmhand.)

This is more than just a survival movie. The farmers are not just a downtrodden mass of people under attack by the Germans and the partisans, both of whom want the food from their farm. Relationships are complex and every action is fraught with danger.

Zuzanna Surowy's performance is amazing. You really believe her as a brave young woman who promises her mother that she will survive the Holocaust. I was surprised to learn that Surowy wasn't a professional. She's a first-time actor who still manages to carry the film forward.

My Name is Sara has an appalling IMDb rating of 6.4. This is one of the films about which I write, "Did those people see the same movie that I saw?" I consider the film to be outstanding, and rated it 9.

We watched this movie virtually,, courtesy of the excellent Rochester Jewish Film Festival.