TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2023 REVIEW! Irena’s Vow is based on the true story of Irena Gut (aka Irene Gut Opdyke), a Polish woman conscripted to serve a Nazi officer during World War II who saved 12 Jews by hiding them in the Nazi officer’s house. If this were written as a Hollywood script, you’d never believe it, but sometimes human daring, courage, and the will to survive can exceed our imaginations.
After the Nazis invaded Poland, Irena was conscripted to work in a Nazi munitions factory. After fainting in the presence of a German officer, she was eventually ordered to work in the home of a Nazi officer. In the meantime, she had befriended many Jewish forced laborers. One day, she overhears that all Jews in the region are set to be exterminated or removed by a certain date. Left with no good options, Irena hides her Jewish friends in the basement of the very house the Nazi officer has commandeered. This plan does not come off without complications — several people eventually discover the secret, and Irena and the group have to make some difficult choices.
Irena’s story is complicated, but she told her story initially in a memoir, In My Hands. Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer, which was later adapted into a play, Irena’s Vow, by Dan Gordon. The film, directed by Louise Archambault, was also written by Gordon. The film simplifies and streamlines her story a bit, but the essential details are there.
This is an extraordinary story, from the sheer act of bravery involved. But it took much more than that — charm, guile, planning, strategy, and an incredible command of logistics. Just imagine what it would take just to feed a dozen people in total secrecy for even a few days, much less for more than a year. But those people also need so much more – lights, ways to entertain themselves, exercise, and something that passes for a life. Irena’s Vow is absolutely fascinating just from the perspective of hearing this astounding story.
“…Irena hides her Jewish friends in the basement of the very house the Nazi officer has commandeered.”
But in addition to the incredible source material, Irena’s Vow delivers as a movie. Sophie Nélisse, who plays Irena, is a revelation. She’s beautiful, charismatic, and completely convincing in the lead role. She has to show courage, conviction, empathy, determination, and a heartbreaking range of other emotions, which she does with wild success. On the flip side, Dougray Scott makes a convincing and suitably complex Nazi. His character does terrible things, of course, but he’s necessarily not a true believer in the cause. There is an element of humanity there, even though we can barely see it from all the overlying layers of repulsiveness.
Besides the acting, the production design, costumes, and direction all make Irena’s Vow convincing as a period piece. The only thing that subtracts a bit from the verisimilitude is the fact that all the actors are speaking English. While I’d have preferred a subtitled film for the sake of realism, I understand the desire to bring the film to the widest audience possible. The story’s importance may even demand it.
Irena herself didn’t tell her story for many decades until she was outraged by a Holocaust denier decades later. I’m grateful she did. The screenwriter Dan Gordon and director Louise Archambault deserve a lot of credit for adapting Irena’s story in an exciting and heartfelt way.
You should watch Irena’s Vow, for it is a compelling, suspenseful film involving pure good and evil — this is exactly why films exist. But long after the last image has flickered into your eye, you’ll be left with a deeper, overarching appreciation of what humans are capable of at their best. You can’t put a price on that.
Irena’s Vow had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
