Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Bene Cumb The fate of Jews during World War II has seen wide depiction (sometimes too wide, in comparison with many other small nations persecuted and deported) in the movies of noted filmmakers; Agnieszka Holland is no exception here. Based on true events, the film focuses on Leopold Socha, a sewer worker in the then Polish city of Lwów who used his knowledge and of the city's sewer system and inventiveness to shelter a group of Jews escaped from the city ghetto. The script and the events seem logical and realistic, but they are difficult to follow at times as they are happening in dark environment, and faces-names can be easily confused. Perhaps that was the reason that leading actors were no distinctive to me - apart from Benno Fürmann as Mundek perhaps - and the triangle of suffering Jews / unpredictable Poles / sadistic Nazis was often too blunt. The length could have been shorter as well, some protracted scenes neither accentuated the mood nor provided additional value to the course of events. All in all, W ciemności is good, but, in my opinion, Escape from Sobibor, The Pianist, and Die Fälscher, for example, have more novel approach and different angle to proceed. As for Holland herself, I find her Europa, Europa from 1991 better, i.e. more dynamic and versatile.

SpannersGerm669 In Darkness is yet another film set during the Nazi occupation of war torn Poland. The Nazis have begun their mission of terror. Rounding up Jews and taking them to concentration camps where unfortunately, many of them lost their lives.Leopold is our main character. He decides to help a handful of Jewish people, doomed to the concentration camps. In order to avoid the same fate as six million others, the Jews are taken to the underground sewers in order to hide from the dangers above. The whole film has a very claustrophobic and suspenseful tone, that tells this wonderful tale of what good human beings are capable of doing during such horrific times. We have the usual betrayal of trust which just adds to the uncertainty that the film generates. These sorts of movies of seemingly ordinary human beings doing extraordinary things against injustice are very common, but In Darkness manages to create something that you haven't seen before, in an already tired sub genre.That takes some doing and as a result, In Darkness is a film to behold!

tieman64 Agnieszka Holland directs "In Darkness". The plot? Deep within the rat invested sewers of Poland, Jewish adults and children spend 14 months hiding. They are aided by Leopold Socha, a Catholic sewer worker. He's your classic "Oskar Schindler" character, initially motivated by greed but begrudgingly morphing into a saviour who risks life, lungs and limbs so that others may one day live free. By the film's end, Socha's Jews are able to exit the sewers, the darkness of the German occupation over and so the darkness of life below ground.Like "The Grey Zone", Holland's "In Darkness" is yet another Holocaust movie which draws clunky, symbolic linkages between literal shadows and the dark immoralities of the Holocaust. And like most Holocaust movies, "Darkness'" tone alternates from moments of simple sentimentality to even simpler brutality. There is no insight here, only a kind of middlebrow art which reduces suffering and history to easy movements.The film was based on Krystyna Ghiger's memoir, "The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow". Agnieszka herself had one Catholic and one Jewish parent, the film's ethical/religious split perhaps echoing her own childhood.At its best, "In Darkness" draws parallels between the sewers and life above ground (no space is sacred, someone is always eavesdropping and everyone is always at risk of being interrupted, discovered or walked in on). Elsewhere Holland does well to show how the filthy sewers gradually become prisons and then tombs. For the most part, though, the film is very weak. Its script is obvious, its poorly shot, Agnieszka can't convey any sense of claustrophobia, of time's passage, or even the squalid conditions of life below ground. Compare with Andrzej Wajda's "Kanal", which likewise attempted to portray life within Poland's underground networks.4/10 - Worth one viewing. See Gavras' "Amen", Holland's own "Europa Europa" and Vittorio de Sica's "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis".

cheesehead11-119-24792 I really love when movies can hit on different angles on what has been a story told over and over again. World War II was a truly unique and chaotic time where many stories come out of, but so many movies of the same general stories are hashed out, making movies of this era tough to sift through. Only a handful can stand out.This movie can fit into that category. Although, it is rather long, and it seemed as though towards the end, the director realized he was reaching the 2-hour mark and hurried things up.The torment of the Jews needing to hide in filth to stay alive, the mental struggles they went to and the affects the sewer inspector had on so many lives, both good and bad are so profound. It's really a movie worth watching, especially if you're a World War II movie buff. It is one you'll remember.One thing that did bug me was the amount of sex had in the movie. I get it, people had sex. Nothing to worry about. But it bothered me that people would really have sex in a sewer, covered in feces. Maybe they did, who knows, but some of the sex scenes were rather unneeded.That and the 2-hour length knocked this movie back a few stars. Also, since I only speak English, differentiating between the East European languages was basically impossible. But, that wasn't a big player in the movie.