IN A NUTSHELL:
MY NAME IS SARA tells the true-life story of 13-year-old Sara Góralniak whose family was killed by Nazis in September of 1942. After a grueling escape to the Ukrainian countryside, Sara finds refuge in a small village, passing as a Christian, where she is taken in by a farmer and his young wife. She soon discovers the dark secrets of her employers' marriage, compounding the greatest secret she must strive to protect, her true identity.
Born in a displaced person's camp, Executive Producer Mickey Shapiro is the son of Sara Góralniak and Asa Shapiro. He is involved in multiple charities and organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, including Steven Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation. Mickey credits his family history as the inspiration for his philanthropy.
The film was written by David Himmelstein and directed by Steven Oritt.
THINGS I LIKED:
I'm always fascinated by WWII movies, not just the action flicks, but also ones like this that show the human drama in the everyday lives of the people who tried to survive the atrocities of the times.
Most audiences won't recognize anyone in the cast. I'm always happy to be introduced to new actors in the industry. For the most part, the acting was very good. The cast includes Zuzanna Surowy, Pawel Krolikowski, Michalina Olszanska, Eryk Lubos, Aleksandra Pisula, and Ksawery Szlenkier, among others.
Zuzana Surowy plays Sara and does a fantastic job, especially considering she had no acting experience and had never been in a movie before! It's fascinating to watch her transform from a frightened young girl to one who finds the inner strength to do what she must to protect herself.
Every scene looked very realistic and plausible. This is not a sanitized story, but one that paints a bloody, honest depiction of how poor peasants lived in Ukraine during WWII.
The film does a great job of showing everyday country people who are just trying to survive World War II. It takes a very non-judgemental approach, revealing that we never know what we'll do in a situation until we are living in it.
None of the characters are without flaws. They are revealed to have dark secrets and we see their personal struggles each day.
This movie is especially painful to watch knowing that current Ukrainian people are being murdered and driven from their homes by the Russians at this very moment.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
Many of the scenes occur at night, which might make it hard to see while watching on a small device once the movie goes to streaming.
The movie begins with subtitles, but then quickly becomes a movie with spoken English. Some viewers might be worried it's a foreign film that will be hard to understand.
So much spitting! Ha ha Sometimes it's just grimy men doing their thing, while other times, it's a political statement.
There are a few bad acting moments.
The filmmaking is fairly basic and simple.
It attempts to tell "the hero's journey" but without the traditional story arc.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Some profanity
Talk of German Nazis
Full frontal female nudity of prisoners
You see an unmarried couple having intimate relations, although you don't see skin or details
You see dead people hanging from a tree
You see dead animals and bloody rabbits caught in a trap
We see people shot to death.
THEMES:
Survival
Religion
War
Selfishness
Honesty
Self-protection
Family
Inner strength
Self-reliance
Relying on the land
The value of human life
