In Darkness (Agnieszka Holland, 2011)

7/10
In Nazi-occupied Poland, a Polish sewer-worker uses his knowledge of the sewer system to shelter a group of Polish Jews from the Nazis. In Darkness details not only the excrutiating 14 months the group spend underground, but focuses largely on the sewer-worker and the dilemmas and dangers he endures while keeping this secret. It's based on a true story and at 2 and a half hours, there's more than enough story here to keep audience interest. Credit goes to the director Agnieszka Holland (and the DP) for making a film largely set in the darkness of the sewers watachable on a purely visual level. That said, however, this is a starkly grim film and sometimes feels more like a history lesson (a very interesting and neglected part of history nonetheless) than the tense, emotional ride it should be. It's hard not to feel a lump in your throat at the end, but that kind of emotion was absent for much of the rest of the running time for me. It's a good movie, but not the kind that rouses any deep feelings in me as a movie-goer, even given its subject matter.