(Credits: Far Out / PISF)

In 1975, a middle-aged Polish-American woman was approached and asked to participate in a public opinion survey. The subject: whether the Holocaust had actually happened. It was this startling question that convinced the woman, Irena Gut Opdyke, to break decades of silence and speak openly about her experiences during the Second World War. Alarmed by claims that the Holocaust was fabricated, she accepted interview requests and spoke freely about the events she had witnessed and participated in under the Nazi regime.

A radio interview with Opdyke caught the attention of American playwright Dan Gordon, who met with her and used her experiences as the basis for a biographical play. The script has now been adapted by Gordon into the screenplay for a remarkable film. Irena’s name is now inscribed beside Oskar Schindler’s on the Jerusalem monument, which honours the “Righteous Among the Nations”. This film depicts the actions which earned that particular tribute.

The film begins when Irena (played by Sophie Nélisse), a 19-year-old nursing student, is taken into custody along with others in her town by the German forces that have occupied Poland. After being assigned to various menial jobs, she is chosen to work as a housekeeper for a Nazi officer (Dougray Scott) at the spacious villa he has appropriated. Irena appears to be a quiet, submissive girl, intimidated by the Nazis and with no intention of making waves.

However, when she accidentally hears of plans to eliminate the local Jewish population, she takes action, using careful planning and subterfuge to conceal 12 Jewish co-workers, then covertly transfer them to the cellar of her new employer’s home. They are kept there, secretly cared for by Irena, until the end of the war.

The film outlines the endless stratagems required to keep 12 people hidden, fed, and provided with basic comforts and activities in such a location. It also clarifies the considerable danger Irena had placed herself in by sheltering these refugees. Nélisse portrays Irena as young and timid but with a moral courage that overcomes her fear and natural reserve. A good part of the story is suspenseful, describing the many close calls when they were nearly found out and the ingenious ways Irena and her charges remain concealed, some of the situations funny, others frightening.

At the same time, we see a warm relationship develop between Irena and the 12 people in hiding, who begin to emerge as not merely a group of refugees but unique individuals. Their differences in religion and outlook make for some interesting group decisions when action needs to be taken – including one choice which was controversial even among Irena’s admirers. As she becomes more familiar with her employer’s schedule, the 12 leaves the cellar for the central part of the house when it is deemed safe to do so, helping Irena with her work and spending a short time experiencing relatively normal life.

The larger realities of Poland under the Nazi regime are not ignored. We are given glimpses of life during German occupation for the general population, and particularly for the minority Jewish population, as the plans to eradicate them move forward. The worst of these scenes are horrible but carefully realistic and perfectly capture the ‘banality of evil’ attributed to Nazi officials, the businesslike attitude toward even the worst of their actions. When the film’s director, Louise Archambault, took questions following a recent film festival screening, she was asked whether she should have considered “toning down” scenes of Nazi atrocities to spare the audience.

Archambault found this interesting, as she had, in fact, already slightly revised some of these situations to make them less disturbing. She gave one example: Irena, along with a crowd, witnessed a Nazi officer take a Jewish baby from his mother and kill the infant openly in the street. The murder took place, and the essential facts were accurately presented, but Archambault described the way it was actually conducted, which was objectively more brutal and ruthless than the film version. In addition, the director explained, she chose to film certain atrocities indirectly, through a window or at a distance. This approach not only avoids sensationalising the violence but prevents it from becoming the central focus of the story.

While the storyline allows for some funny and heartwarming moments, the danger is never far away, and suspense never lessens for long in this tense drama. As local suspicion threatens Irena’s and the 12 fugitives’ safety, more elaborate deceptions and diversions are used. When disaster seemed imminent, Irena made an additional, humiliating sacrifice to keep everyone safe through the conclusion of the war. A final, ironic calamity falls on Irena post-war, leading to a satisfying end-credits conclusion that is almost too coincidental and opportune. It is too fortunate to be acceptable in a work of fiction and welcome only because the events and resulting happy ending actually took place.

Under Louise Archambault’s skilful direction, Sophie Nélisse offers a believable portrayal of Irena as young, unsophisticated, and frightened of the task she has taken on, but all the more admirable for being overwhelmed. It is not only a suspenseful, engrossing wartime drama but an inspiring tale of genuine heroism, well and movingly told.