Review by rps-2

As of this writing, there are 1894 films on my IMDb list. If I rate them by excellence, this would be in the top three. If I listed only war and Holocaust movies, it would be Number 1 (The Boy In The Striped Pajamas would be number two.) The story is brilliant. The acting is magnificent. The low key photography and the often bleak weather settings fit the story perfectly. And the ending... No spoiler here. Let's just say my wife and I will discuss the ending many times. Powerful, powerful stuff yet understated, its fierce emotions (love, hate, suspicion,anger, fear) often conveyed without words, just superb facial gestures and expressions. It's also quite an accomplishment to make any film --- much less a superb one like this --- in four languages (English, German, Polish, Russian) I saw no listing of awards. It deserves any number of them! Screening this remarkable film more than makes up for all the bad movies --- perhaps 60% of those 1894 entries --- that I've endured over the years. If cinema is indeed an art form, this is a Van Gogh!