Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards, Agnieszka Holland’s starkly realistic World War II drama explores a complex true tale of Holocaust heroism.

After the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1941, the city of Lwów became one of the regime’s largest ghettos, not only housing persecuted Jews, but seeing most of its inhabitants murdered. As the Germans prepare to liquidate the site, Polish sewer worker Leopold Socha agrees, for a fee and risking his own life, to shelter a group of desperate escapees beneath the streets.

In her third film about the period after fellow Oscar nominees Angry Harvest and Europa Europa, Holland doesn’t sugar-coat her story or shy away from its difficult reality. As bleak as its title suggests, In Darkness delves into the minutiae of struggling to survive amid unthinkable cruelty, as aided by cinematographer Jolanta Dylewska’s stunningly textured images.

“Convincing in its detail, nail-chewing in its mounting suspense, In Darkness is illuminating, provocative and bracingly unsentimental. It positively clamours for your attention.” – Time Out