Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Hidden in Silence: A Movie About the Podgórski Sisters

I recently watched this gem from 1996. Many of you have probably seen it, but some of you may not have.. The sad thing is with every generation, WWII grows further and further away and fewer people are interested or don't care.

But if you forget history...you risk repeating it, and we certainly don't want a repeat of that time.

Hidden in Silence takes place in Poland during the war and it starts when Germany invades. We see it through the eyes of a Catholic friend of a Jewish family. She's also betrothed to their son. The movie shows us at first a gorgeous day in Poland, with girls dreaming of waltzes, and suddenly, it call comes to an end. The Germans invade, randomly shoot women walking their dogs, and the Jews are gathered and sent to the ghetto to await massacre.

This incredible woman, Fusia is her name in the movie, at first visits the ghetto nearly every day to sneak food. She even stands up and screams at a Nazi. It's amazing she doesn't get caught. I truly had my doubts and scoffed until I realized this was based on a true story. The real woman was only 16 at the time (I think the chick in the movie is older) and she not only cared for her sister but harbored 13 Jews for 2 and a half years (with German nurses and officers right there in the apartment!) while working in a munitions? factory.

Way to work it. LOL. I thought that was a cool twist--and it's true--her working for the Germans and taking their money home to buy food for the Jews. Very cool.

In the movie we see the cruelty of the Nazis, the conditions of the camps, and the insanity that can result from being cooped up in a dark room forced to be silent for so long.

But this is truly an amazing woman. Was an amazing woman and it makes for a great movie. I became very engrossed in this, to the point I was actually yelling at the screen. "No! Don't do that. What are you? Stupid??" My heart even stopped beating when an officer went to check the attic. The ending had tears in my eyes.

Great acting and I'm not even a fan of Kellie Martin. The movie does have that "nineties" look about it. No HD here, but we've gotten spoiled, haven't we?

I watched this on Amazon Prime.






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