Run Boy Run (2013) Lauf Junge Jauf
Cast includes: Andrzej Tkacz, Kamil Tkacz, Elisabeth Duda (Dans les pas de Marie Curie), jochen Hägele (The Transporter Refueled)
Director: Pepe Danquart (Hell on Wheels)
Genre: Drama | History (112 minutes) Polish with subtitles
Winter 1942/43… the 8-year-old boy, dressed in rags, sleeps huddled under a log for protection from the snow. On a good day, he finds something to steal from a farm, but most days aren’t that good. As much as possible, he stays in the forest for protection. “Boy, you have to be strong. You must survive,” Srulik’s father tells him. “Forget your mother and father. Forget your name. Forget everything.” At first, the boy joins a group of other Jewish children, who show him the ropes. “The forest protects us,” they tell him. But there are also partisans, soldiers and dogs in the forest. The others teach him to steal food from the farms. “Thieves! Filthy Jews!”
“Try not to think about the past,” they tell him. But Srulik still remembers the warm rolls, right out of the oven, at his father’s bakery. He remembers not being able to say goodbye to his mother when he slipped away, under the ghetto wall. And the number-one rule, he’s told… “Never take your pants off in front of Poles.” They turn Jews over to the Germans and collect a reward. Srulik’s survival education is barely started when he becomes separated from the others. By winter, the boy is close to death. He has no choice but to seek real shelter. “You can stay for a while. I won’t tell,” says the farm owner. The boy calls himself Jurek Staniak, but she knows it’s not his real name. She also knows if Jurek to survive he will need to pass as a Christian. So she coaches him. He’ll need to be very convincing if he’s to overcome his Jewish appearance.
Soon enough, Jurek is on his own again. This time, he tries to find work in exchange for room and board. It’s quite risky. Along the way, he has his share of good luck and bad. But in an era of unthinkable horror, the good fortune never lasts very long. Run Boy Run is based on a novel by Uri Orlev, which was inspired by a true story. As in the novel, the filmmakers have attempted to give us a sense of the complex nature of the Poles relationship with the Jews, the Germans, the partisans and the Russians. At one point, when Jurek is being held in a dark, dank cell awaiting transport to a death camp, an ill-tempered guard gives him some bread. “Eat your fill.” He then mutters, “Jews are human, too.” Based on historical events, we can more-or-less guess many of the plot points, but that doesn’t take away from the film’s power. The young boy is excellent, but as it turns out, he’s actually played by twins. (It’s almost impossible to tell them apart.) We follow the boy from 1942 to the end of the war. By that time, his memories of his family are distant. He’s not sure if he Jurek or Srulik. He’s survived for so long on his own, he’s not even sure if he can accept the help that’s offered. “Don’t stop running,” his father told him. “You must forget everything. But you must never forget.”
3 popped kernels
A young Jewish boy in WWII Poland survives alone on his wits and the occasional kindness of strangers
Popcorn Profile
Audience: Grown-ups
Gender Style: Neutral
Distribution: Art House
Mood: Sober
Tempo: Cruises Comfortably
Visual Style: Unvarnished Realism
Nutshell: Jewish boy struggles to survive WWII
Language: True to life
Social Significance: Informative & Thought Provoking
