jc-osms I've watched many modern day films set in the Second World War, but this was one of the best. After you've viewed the movie, it's impossible to say you've enjoyed it, more that it has impacted on you and reached out to your emotions.The story is of an initially cynical, extorting, Polish petty criminal's gradual bonding with a group of persecuted Jews in the Polish Ghetto who he helps escape from the occupying and terrorising Nazis in the filthy underground sewers where he works in the day-time. He goes from seeing them as an easy mark for money and jewellery, caring not a whit for any one of them, to putting his own life at risk and even killing for them as the story progresses.One of the things that most impressed me was the treatment of all the characters as disparate individuals, each with different motivations and passions. They're none of them saints as they display in no particular order sins of greed, lust, deceit, selfishness and mistrust. The acting was excellent all round, especially from the actor who played central character Socha, who rediscovers his humanity as he gets drawn into a situation he hadn't anticipated and which he initially saw as a potentially profitable strictly business enterprise. It all ends with a last-gasp, nick-of-time reacquaintance between him and them only for the epilogue to sadly tell he didn't survive the war himself.There are many grisly and horrific scenes in the film, from the first one right at the start as a group of naked women are pursued and murdered by jeering Germans, to the reprisal- hanging of a group of ordinary citizens displayed in public, while the depiction of life underground in the filthy sewers on the barest of rations almost beggars belief.My only complaints would be that the final rescue of the group from drowning like rats seemed melodramatic and over-exaggerated for cinematic effect. I also think the passage of time could have been handled better too especially when we are told in the epilogue that the Jews had stayed underground longer than fourteen months.These are minor caveats however. There must be hundreds of these true-life stories of tragedy and heroism arising from the holocaust and every one will deserve to be told, if for no other reason than to refute the holocaust-deniers out there. This particular one was exceptionally well told, eschewing sentimentality for realism and made for compulsive and rewarding viewing.

room102 Academy Awards nominee for Best Foreign Movie (Poland) about the true story of a Catholic Polish sewer man who helped a group of Jews survive for over a year in the sewer system underneath the Jewish ghetto.Excellent production design, good direction and good acting by the lead actor.However, I didn't feel the writing was good enough to hold a 140-minutes movie. It would have worked better as a much shorter film.Agnieszka Holland's older movie concerning the subject of the holocaust, "Europa, Europa (1990)" was much better, as far as I remember.

Armand in a long series of war/Shoah movies, it is different. not original but different. because it is a real good story in precise manner form. because you discover, in many moments, than it is a film about yourself. the key - inspired form for basic emotions. the good and bad remains in fragile balance. the tension is well realized. the purpose is not to present a heroes gallery but common fear, hope, expectation, joy, angry, needs and danger pressure. it seems be an every day situation and that is the great virtue. a movie about bravery. in realistic form, convincing at whole, far by war because for many viewers from East the end of story is only another beginning. a film who transforms the artistic message in an experience. because , scene by scene, you are part of story. not fascinated. but seduced by the tragedy of few people for who ordinary limits becomes fiction. a bitter, harsh movie. different side of a tragedy who seems be well - known.

denis888 The Agnieszka Holland production seems to be a rather good effort to show the fate of Lwow Jews trapped in the ghetto and getting their way out through the sewer system. Some locals help, some do not. That could be a great and very exciting story. It was not. Mrs. Holland did not fulfill the main goal. Her film tends to be very prolonged, languid, too slow and too dirty. Well, yes, was is dirty, but then, do we need so much nudity on screen? Some foul language does not seem to sound natural here, too, and yes, some scenes are too slow and too blurry in delivery. Beno Fuhrmann is a great actor, but here he is not at his peak. His part is OK, but not driving, as well as some more. The film is really OK, but this is the one that you watch and then never repeat or remember much.