Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: IRENA’S VOW [Toronto International Film Festival 2023 - Toronto, Canada - Remote]
The essence of survival in a hostile territory comes down to the essence of man and woman and what are the principles they will stand up for in balance to those horrors being thrown against them. With "Irena's Vow" [Centrepiece], the lead character of Irena has to make her choice which is really no choice at all; it is simply a part of her being. Actress Sophie Nélisse plays Irena with a sense of knowing, guilt but also conscience in holding both her captors and her wards of sorts to bear. It is an interesting balance. She is trying to survive in a world of hate. After the Nazis invade Poland, she is given a choice to serve them or become a darker fate. She resolutely calls herself a hard worker but when she sees would be tailors in the basement who are Jewish, she understands that everyone does what they must...but that she needs to do what she can to save them, and do what is right. The interesting development is a commandant (played by a now unrecognizable Dougray Scott -- the bad guy in "Mission Impossible II" in 2001) and the freedom he gives her even though it doesn't add up.
Scott plays a severely unlikable character who sees the falacy in his vision but also is blinded by ignorance and what he thinks is right. One piece of imagery showing the cruelty early in the film imprints completely on the character of Irena and the audience, which makes a later decision which could have given those she was protecting away very earned and poignant. It is a difficult discussion and well delivered because it shows that only by seeing certain joys and important things to live for does the human spirit continue on. Life, even in war, becomes normal despite the horrors, and this film does capture that essence without needing overarching set pieces or large sets. It is a matter of human behavior pushed to the extreme in both directions. The resolution is not clean cut but shows the progress of humanity and the real people that inspired this story...and that is the most important. B+
By Tim Wassberg
