Spring 1941

A very well acted emotional story illustrating the atrocities of the Germans in WWII. I found some of the scenes very disturbing though thought provoking as to what depths the human race can sink to. Films like this must be made to capture new generations who far too often are ignorant of history or have history glossed over to maintain current day international relations and sensitivities.

This is a serious portrait of the suffering, pain and sacrifices of hideous Nazi occupation & the Jewish people.

I like the story unveiled by surviving Madam Planck 30 years later... the movie switches between the occupation to her finally sharing w her daughter of that life and village.

It is moving, only Emilia storyline too long, (time could have been spent on other aspects). We get the point early on that she is going to push too far, with tragic results to haunt her. Then the villager drunk cousin - too much of him. There was room to have one or two more characters in the story, versus overly drawn out storytelling like that.

Well worth watching - an earnest movie.

The filmmakers went to the trouble of shooting much of this movie in Poland, and maybe they benefited from something invisible in the atmosphere but there is rather little happening outdoors in the movie and I couldn't have told whether it was shot in Poland or in Poughkeepsie. Because so much of the film occurs in the small space of a peasant's hut, you could mistake it for a stage play with a few cinematic scenes tacked on. And the screenwriter, Motti Lerner, does in fact write mostly for the stage. It could be that audiences were surprised by the relative weight of the indoor part of the story, where everything depends on the interaction of the actors and their movement in a space no bigger than a stage; and by the relative weight of the interplay between the characters living in fear of the Nazis, as opposed to actual encounters with the Nazis themselves. But if you accept that the emphasis lies where it does, then you'll certainly be glad that for once Uri Barbash directed a script by an independently successful playwright rather than by his brother Benny (no offense intended). The actors do a great job of selling the story, and the script does a great job of showing a human dilemma of conflicting priorities with life and death at stake.

The film in a serious subject, but far too often the shaky cam forces the audience to look away missing much of this movie. If you like nausea and headaches check it out. Otherwise simply skip this one. Its really surprising to me that in a day in age when there is so much hardware available to directors to keep video smooth and professional that something like this could ever get made. Directors and Investors: It doesn't matter how good your script is, if you make your movie look like a middle school phone camera youtube video, we can't watch it.

I have seen many World War II documentaries and movies. Even more on the German caused Holocaust. Although this isn't focused on concentration camps like most of them are, this for some reason depicted the Jewish pain better than most.