THE film Irena’s Vow (Cert. 15) tells the true-life story of the sheltering by Irene Gut Opdyke (then Irena Gut) of Jews after Germany invaded Poland. An opening scene pictures a dove freely flying, albeit within the confines of the Roman Catholic church where Irena (Sophie Nélisse) is worshipping. While the congregation is brusquely ordered out by Nazi soldiers, the bird soars off. Irena, a trainee nurse, is forced into hard labour at an armaments factory. The sequence, as directed by Louise Archambault in this Canadian/Polish co-production, foretells what is to come: how to live freely even under severely restricted circumstances.
On being transferred to a laundry, Irena supervises Jewish workers soon to be sent to a concentration camp. An ageing Major Eduard Rügemer (Dougray Scott) commandeers her as housekeeper in his expansive villa, usurped from a Jewish family. Hidden in plain sight from the eyes of the officer, Irena clandestinely moves her charges below stairs. There are, of course, many heart-stopping moments when discovery is threatened. In that respect, the film has kinship with others such as Sarah’s Key and In Darkness; but its underlying themes rise above just that of avoiding capture. There is one particularly difficult situation in which Irena’s Christian principles clash with her friends’ safety. She tells them that it is not enough to simply survive. “Otherwise, the Hitlers of the world have won. I think we should have faith, because if we don’t, something else will die inside of us, too.”
Faith informs several elements of the movie. The war-weary Rügemer tells Irena that he thanks God every day for having her in his life. At a party that he hosts, the guests drunkenly sing “O Tannenbaum” (“O Christmas Tree”), its pagan origins sharply contrasting below ground with the discreet singing of a Hanukkah blessing of thanks by Irena’s guests.
The vow of the title concerns a life-changing moment when Irena witnesses an appalling act of unwarranted cruelty by the Nazi officer Rokita (Maciej Nawrocki), who, to all intents and purposes, personifies unmitigated evil in the movie. As a result of this incident, Irena vows that she will preserve lives at all costs to herself.
Before she moved to the villa, her mentor had been the kindly Schultz (Andrzej Seweryn). His advice was to keep your head down and not get involved. We see several shots of Irena’s feet as she scurries between the needs of her Jewish companions and those of Rügemer. Unlike Schultz, however, she proactively lives out her faith, her example seeming to lead the older man into some (admittedly subtle) ways of protecting her and those in the cellar.
It is a film that doesn’t excessively dwell on the pervasiveness of evil, although its predominantly grey-blue palette never lets us forget its presence. There are redeeming qualities in several of the characters, but when it comes to Irena we have a portrait of well-nigh unblemished holiness. Goodness is notoriously difficult to pull off in drama, but Sophie Nélisse manages to avoid a sanctimonious performance. She adroitly balances the need to be as wise as serpents with the innocence of doves. Born free, she stays free as a bird, despite excruciating conditions.
