Based on true events, 2011 Polish
film In Darkness focuses on life in
Nazi Occupied Poland during the Second World War. Leopold Socha (Robert
Więckiewicz) is a sewer worker and part time thief who hides his horde of ill
gotten goods in the sewers beneath the streets of Lwow. While in the sewers on
day he comes across a group of freshly escaped Jews who have bored a hole
through the ground from their Ghetto above. After threatening to turn them in
for a reward, Socha instead agrees to help them in return for an even larger
fee. For over a year he attempts to keep ‘His Jews’ hidden while living off the
funds they provide him.
In Darkness was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar and was
met with wide critical acclaim upon its release. The film is deeply harrowing
and manages to create well rounded characters in both the Jews and Poles but
unfortunately it lives in the shadows of Schindler’s List which has covered most of the ideas before.
