As I prepared to sit and watch this nearly 2 1/2 hour movie, I pondered the idea of people forced to live in a sewer to stay alive. When you hear this, you think it is not possible, that it is a made up story. However, it was not only a true story, but it was an experience that this movie depicted deftly, with no apologies. Leopold Socha played by Robert Wieckiewicz (All Will Be Well, Little Rose) was a sewer worker in the Nazi occupied town of Lvov, Poland. With Jews being rounded up for deportation to concentration camps or to be killed immediately, Socha was presented with an opportunity to make money off of the Jews’ plight–charge them money to be hidden in the town’s sewers, that he knew so well. What surprised me about this movie was its depiction of human nature.  In the face of being exterminated, to see the petty fighting, sexual urges and jealously among the victims was something I have not seen in previous holocaust movies. The filming was a remarkable feat. The ability to convey the steady darkness in the sewers, yet provide us glimpses into the survivors’ daily perils, where things appeared more oppressive in the lightless dank, archaic sewer system was remarkable. This was not an easy movie to watch, but compared to what those people had to endure, it put my mind in the proper perspective.  Nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category.  Polish/German/Ukrainian/Yiddish with English subtitles.

3 1/4 stars