Louise Archambault

This riveting drama must be watched through the credits; the compelling revelations about the real-life characters adds power to a story that would defy credulity if not for its truth. Set in Poland at the start of the Nazi occupation, director Louise Archambault’s absorbing story follows a young nurse, Irena Gut (Sophie Nelisse), who is forced to work as a cook and housekeeper for a Nazi commandant who likes to throw lavish parties. Irena, who’s lost her family and home, risks her life to hide 11 Jewish people who’d been working as tailors for the Nazis but are now set to be deported to the camps.

You’d think there would be no new Holocaust stories to tell at this point but Irena’s Vow introduces a real-life heroine who only agreed to share her tale after being confronted by a Holocaust denier and realizing she couldn’t remain silent any longer. Irena Gut Opdyke (Sophie Nelisse) was studying to be a nurse in Poland when the Nazis invaded the country in 1939. A serious, hardworking young woman, she is put in charge of the Jews who are working as tailors and sewing the German soldiers’ uniforms. She gets to know them and promises to do what she can to protect them. How she will be able to do this is unclear to the prisoners, to the audience and to herself – nevertheless, she persists.