In Darkness is a dramatization of a rescue of Jewish refugees during World War II in the German-occupied city Lwów (Lemberg in German, L’viv in Ukrainian). For over a year, a Polish Catholic sewer maintenance worker and burglar, Leopold Socha along with his friend and co-worker Szczepek Wróblewski, hid and cared for a group of Polish Jews who had escaped the massacres and deportations during the liquidation of the Lwów Ghetto.
At first the men demand daily payment for their help but they continue to aid the group long after the Jews’ money has run out and aiding them had become ever more dangerous. The Jewish ghetto had been established in 1941 and the Nazis decided to liquidate it in June 1943. The Soviets took over Lwów city in July 1944, by which point Socha’s band made up 10 of the fewer than 1,000 surviving Jews in the city. Socha’s and Wróblewski’s actions and those of their wives led to their recognition as Righteous Among the Nations recipients.
In Darkness (Polish: W ciemności) is a 2011 Polish drama film written by David F. Shamoon and directed by Agnieszka Holland.[1] It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards. Based on true events during German occupation of Poland, the film tells about Leopold Socha, a sewer worker in the Polish city of Lwów. He used his knowledge of the city’s sewer system to shelter a group of Jews who had escaped from the Lwów Ghetto during the Holocaust in Poland.
In Darkness (2012)
Directed by: Agnieszka Holland
Starring: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Fürmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Maria Schrader, Herbert Knaup, Marcin Bosak, Julia Kijowska, Jerzy Walczak, Oliwer Stanczak, Kinga Preis, Milla Bankowicz
Screenplay by: David F. Shamoon
Production Design by: Erwin Prib
Cinematography by: Jolanta Dylewska
Film Editing by: Michal Czarnecki
Costume Design by: Jagna Janicka, Katarzyna Lewinska
Set Decoration by: Mark Rosinski
Art Direction by: Sergio González Kuhn, Marcel Slawinski, Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska
Music by: Antoni Lazarkiewicz
MPAA Rating: R for violence, disturbing images, sexuality, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: February 10, 2012
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