Within These Walls of Sorrow

This tense WWII historical from Barratt (My Dearest Dietrich) follows a woman’s efforts to help her neighbors survive the Kraków ghetto. Zosia Lewandowska is a widow living in Kraków, Poland, when the Nazis crack down on the local Jewish community in the early 1940s. Caught up in the Nazis’ brutality are Zosia’s neighbors, the Silbermans, who are forced to move to the ghetto. Confronted with rumors of the suffering going on there, Zosia seizes an opportunity to work at a pharmacy in the ghetto and joins a small group of civilians who organize to smuggle food and medicine to those trapped inside. As efforts to “liquidate” the ghetto accelerate, Zosia teams up with the Silbermans’ eldest daughter, Hania, to help the family escape while Zosia grapples with how to live up to her Christian morals in the face of atrocities. The narrow focus on Zosia, Hania, and their associates provides an intimate look at the Holocaust, capturing how faith and selflessness can persist even in dire times. Moving and effective, this inspirational finds light in the darkest of places. (Jan.)