2 Time Film Excess Award Winner:
Best Director: Agnieszka Holland
Best Supporting Actress: Agnieszka Grochowska
6 Time Film Excess Nominee:
Best Film (lost to The Descendants)
Best Director: Agnieszka Holland (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Robert Wieckiewicz (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Supporting Actress: Agnieszka Grochowska (won)
Best Cinematography: Jolenta Dylewska (lost to Phedon Papamichael for The Descendants)
Best Costumes: Jagna Janicka, Katarzyna Lewinska (lost to Mildred Pierce)
+ Best Polish Movie of the Year
+ Best War Movie of the Year
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| Two strong photos are spliced together on the poster for Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness |
We are in the then Polish town Lvov during World War II, as the Jews of the town are being killed or driven away. A group of them manages to buy entrance into the town's sewer system, where they for months live through extreme trials, while the war rages above.
This authentic story works as simultaneously a horrific WWII document and a tremendously compelling survival drama. It strikes hard at once and grips its audience with its very potent, visceral strength until the last frame. Jolenta Dylewska (Made in Poland (2010)) conducted the great cinematography.
In Darkness is impressively big, detailed and emotionally harrowing and overwhelming. Robert Wieckiewicz (Walesa: Man of Hope/Walesa. Czlowiek z Nadziei (2013)) is eminent as the sewer worker who helps the Jews, and Agnieszka Grochowska (Child 44 (2015)) is striking as the pregnant woman among the group.
In Darkness inspires inevitable comparisons to Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List (1993). This film is just as good, but has less Hollywood to it, - none, that is!
In Darkness is written by David F. Shamoon, based on Robert Marshall's In The Sewers of Lvov, and directed by Polish master filmmaker Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa (1990)).
Don't miss this important masterpiece!
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Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
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| Robert Wieckiewicz gives one of the year's top performances in Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness |
Watch the trailer for the film with English subtitles here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 9.9 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[In Darkness was shot in January - April 2010 as a Polish-German-Canadian co-production. The only remaining survivor of the Lvov sewer Jews is Krystya Chiger, who has written of the experience in her memoir, The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow (2008). The book was published too late to be a source for the film, but Chiger has since met with and lauded Holland for her portrayal. In Darkness was Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film, losing to A Separation (2011). It grossed 1 mil. $ (10.1 % of the total gross) in North America. Its biggest two markets were its native Poland (6.4 mil. $/64.6 %) and Peru (1.8 mil. $/18.2 %). In Darkness is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of In Darkness?
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