Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz) is a sewer inspector and a thief. He and his helper rob houses and hide their treasures below ground, in the sewers they know so well. It seems like the perfect plan until, one day, they hear hammering above their heads and are surprised to see several Jewish families tunneling their way through their floor to escape the Jewish ghetto. A deal is struck among them - Socha's silence for $500 a day. Socha is thrilled at his good fortune, but starts to think he made a foolish deal when he hears from his friend, Bortnik (Michal Zurawski), an SS soldier, that the Germans are paying $500 for each Jew that is turned in.
Very soon thereafter, the Germans begin a raid on the ghetto, slaughtering Jews by the hundreds and the escape moves into high gear, with dozens more than the original members of the various Jewish families clamoring for escape into the sewers. Socha agrees to secret away 11 people in a hidden area of the sewers and the rest are left to fend for themselves.
Even having a secret hide-away doesn't change the fact that they must tolerate filthy living conditions, abominable smells and foul rats running everywhere, in addition to the constant threat of discovery. But the families keep paying and Socha supplies them with food, plus he runs interference when the Germans get too curious about calls reporting Jews are hiding in the sewers. The families do their best to live as normal a life as possible, although it's pretty difficult. Among those in the sewer are Paulina (Maria Schrader) and Ignacy Chiger (Herbert Knaup), along with their children Krystyna (Milla Bankowicz) and Pawel (Oliwer Stanczak), are more educated and wealthy and are basically supplying the money and jewelry in exchange for the group's safety, whereas Mundek Margulies (Benno Furmann) provides some of the muscle, while watching over his beloved Klara (Agnieska Grochowska). The group is able to survive for 14 long months in the sewer, with Socha's help, but at a great cost to all of them, both physically and mentally.
There are only two special features, but both are unique. One is a sit-down with Director Agnieszka Holland and a moderator, where she answers questions about her film-making experience, and the other is a talk between Holland and the real-life survivor Krystyna Chiger, which was fantastic and moving to see. Cinematically, the movie is brilliant, with its inky black palette and stark imagery. While the story is terribly dark in both its visuals and content, it is also powerful. If you have any interest in WWII and the stories of the Holocaust, this movie is one to check out, even though it is all subtitled.
