My Name Is Sara

I have always had a profound respect and boundless admiration for those uncommonly resolute individuals who are somehow imbued with the indomitable intestinal fortitude that allows them to so courageously defy unspeakable tyranny, no matter how severe the cost, a laudable strength I manifestly DO NOT possess. Steven Oritt's witheringly tense WW2 drama is a wholly absorbing, albeit emotionally distressing true story about the resourcefully defiant young Jewish girl Sara Góralnik (Zuzanna Surowy), cruelly separated from her beloved family by the despotic, Ukraine annexing Hun; Góralnik's extraordinary will to survive, and uncommon strength is hugely inspirational to behold! A darkly fascinating, frequently disturbing journey into Sara's all-too precarious existence, engagingly written, captivatingly photographed, beautifully performed, and no less tastefully filmed. And the starkly oppressive sequence wherein the arrogant, inebriate Wehrmacht looted the family farm proved to be quite an unsettling interlude, since there was nothing remotely cartoonish about the performances, dully matter-of-fact, the degenerate German soldier's callously brutal treatment of the beleaguered family felt queasily realistic. Kudos to the creative cast and crew being able to make the harrowing experiences of an innocent teenage girl so hypnotically compelling.