I have been quite thorough in watching most if not all of the Academy award nominated movies of the last couple of years, but going back a bit further, I have not been as complete. The Best Foreign Language film nominees can be tough to watch. They deal with difficult topics often, and while they are incredibly well done, they are often a challenge. This is one such example.
Socha is a sewer worker in Lviv and he was no saint. An anti-Semite who before the war was exploiting
and cheating Jews, he used the sewers to stash his loot and realized he
could make money by selling food and supplies to these survivors. He started off as a thief but he changed. He
used his occupation as an excuse to come and go in the Nazi-controlled
city and even had a plausible reason to go down into the sewers.
The
film doesn't inquire too closely into how Socha found adequate food,
blankets and medicine for so many people, at a time when such things
were strictly rationed. The black market was his domain, and he knew
where to look. But the time came when this arrangement was no longer
convenient or profitable for Socha. By then, he had witnessed
unspeakable atrocities carried out by the Nazis and had come to know the
Jews as individuals. He had a change of heart and then became
determined that they must survive no matter what. This involved many
risks and much danger, and he was responsible for saving their lives. No one is without sin, but the story is both a true one and one that makes you grateful even in these difficult political times.
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