A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
In Darkness has depth, wit and complexity to back up its beauty.
With refugees comprising con men, wheeler-dealers and adulterers, all reluctantly helped by anti-Semitic burglar Robert Wieckiewicz, who’s only in it for the money, the film never hides its uncomfortable truths in the shadows.
Unlucky to miss out a Best Foreign Film Oscar, this moving war flick is a nerve-jangling odyssey into the underground world. Recommended.
A claustrophobic film that is dark in almost every sense, but the result is moving.
Largely avoiding the dangers of an episodic narrative the picture grips throughout and isn’t as claustrophobic as you might expect, with plenty of drama occurring up top.
Tense, riveting, deeply moving, it's one of the most unforgettable pieces of cinema you are likely to see this year.
These dozen men, women and children never emerge into full individualised life and we feel cut off – in the wrong, sanitising sense – from the worst horrors below and above ground.
A very robust piece of work without ever truly getting under your skin.
In lieu of presenting anything particularly insightful or compelling in its own right, In Darkness relies on the weight of history to make a case for watching it.
There is release at the end of this fine film, but no euphoria; just a sense of having come through a period of evil, the memory of whose darkness will never entirely lift.
[The director and cinematographer] brilliantly capture the claustrophobia and the rat-infested filth of the tunnels, while the vanishing outlines of humans contain an almost painterly aura of light and shade. At the beginning of their ordeal the half-lit figures look like something from medieval religious painting. By the end they look like the gaunt ghosts of Egon Schiele.
In Darkness further explores the theme of survival by subterfuge, with the moral complexity that that entails. We learn that even in – especially in – extreme jeopardy, nobility can exist; but then, films have told us that before. More revealingly, In Darkness reminds us what can also prevail is bloody-minded, unpredictable human nature.
It's a harsh, unsanctimonious picture with none of the feel-good elements that Spielberg inevitably injected into his story.
Holland should be commended for her successful experiment with plotting which evades action and swiftness but remains focussed on the story it is there to tell.
Interview: Agnieszka Holland--director of In Darkness
In Darkness uses a fragment of the Holocaust story to hint at its enormity
Holland shines a light amid the Holocaust darkness
Agnieszka Holland
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday March 16, 2012, until Thursday April 5, 2012. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee from Friday March 23, 2012, until Thursday March 29, 2012. More info: www.dca.org.uk
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday April 27, 2012, until Thursday May 3, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
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