Movie review: Sarah's Key

If you haven't watched Sarah's Key yet, you should get on that. It's currently on the instant play on Netflix. It has been chilling in my queue for a while, but I didn't watch it until tonight. I will warn you now, it's not a happy-go-lucky film. It highlights some very serious times in our world's past.

Brief synopsis: There are two stories intertwined. One takes place in France in 1942; the other takes place in 2009. In 2009, a woman named Julia is writing a piece on the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (the link should take you to the Wikipedia page on it; skim the link; I knew nothing about this particular incident before this movie). During this time, Julia learns that the family apartment in Paris that her husband is having renovated was once rented by a Jewish family that was taken away in the Roundup. While researching the family, Julia discovers that the two children - Sarah and Michel - are never listed as being held in a concentration camp or being executed. Simultaneously, the movie jumps to what is happening in 1942 as Sarah and her family are taken away, and her subsequent escape back to Paris to rescue her brother who she convinced to hide in a closet when her family was being taken away. The movie also goes on to document how these events affected Sarah as she grew up.

I put this in my Netflix account for two reasons: 1) I heard it was a good movie, and 2) I have a small fascination with the plight of the Jews during WWII. I'm not sure when this fascination started, but I'm going to guess that it started in around the 7th grade. It was my first year in the music groups in our school, and one of the competition groups that I was in sang a song (Inscription of Hope by Z. Randall Stroope) whose lyrics were based on a poem that was found written on the wall of a concentration camp in Cologne. (See bottom of post for the poem.) I thought the poem was beautiful and the song was moving. Ever since, I have been fascinated by these events and just man's inhumanity to man in general. Genocides intrigue me. I try to learn so much about them, and then I try to understand what would make humans believe that they need to eradicate the world of a specific group of people. It saddens me to know that genocides continue, and will most likely continue until the end of the world.

I suppose that this is much less movie review, and much more tangent. But seriously, watch the movie. Some people may need to bring a box of tissues. I now leave you with the afore mentioned poem.

"I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way

"But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone's there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I'll give you strength,
I'll give you hope. Just stay a little while.

"I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there's no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.

"May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace...."
- Unknown