Fun fact: did you know, in 2024, there’s been more films about the holocaust than movies about killer spiders?  I suppose this isn’t really an odd coincidence considering audiences don’t often see movies about killer spiders.  But also considering Sting is currently playing in theatres and Infested streams on Shudder by the end of April, it’s a bit weird the arachnids are still outnumbered.

Pardon my digression, but it’s difficult to find enthusiasm to discuss Irena’s Vow, which follows the releases of Freud’s Last Session and One Life.  Though it may seem as though the factor that solidifies satisfaction is the presence of Sir Anthony Hopkins, the truth is both of those former movies found interesting angles to address an awful period in history.  Irena’s Vow has potential: a biopic based on how former nurse Irena Gut Opdyke (Sophie Nélisse of The Kid Detective) used her role as a Nazi-employed housekeeper to protect and secretly shelter Jewish people.  While Opdyke’s perspective could’ve taught audiences more about the Holocaust with a personal touch (reminiscent of last year’s Persian Lessons), along with the added bonus of a sufficient script penned by screenwriter Dan Gordon (The Hurricane) to match the film’s possibilities, director Louise Archambault (One Summer [Le Temps D’un Été]) doesn’t bring much lustre to the project. 

The film’s components, such as the acting or the shot compositions, are not bad per se, but they’re being represented poorly.  To use those two areas as examples: some flat line readings could’ve benefited from different takes or interpretations to choose from in order for the actor to gain more of an emotional connection to the material, and the look of the movie has stagey framing.  Gordon had previously adapted this story for Broadway, which may explain the latter.  Much like the Canadian period musical Stand!, but that film adaptation also didn’t work for the same reasons.

We’ll never know if another draft or more time in an editing bay would’ve benefited this project, and that’s too bad.  Because while Irena’s Vow may be an adequate biopic, it’s more underwhelming than anything.

**********

Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:

Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie