- Feb 5, 2002
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On the first day of filming for “Irena’s Vow” (Quiver), Sophie Nélisse had to witness a mass hanging.
The Canadian actor, 24, has been making movies since childhood. So the scripted summary executions by Nazis — meant to terrorize the population of occupied Poland during World War II — were all in a day’s work.
Yet evoking an atrocity was not the problem. Instead, it was the possibility of running afoul of Polish child-labor laws. “We had so many background actors. (But) a lot of the kids had to wrap up in the afternoon,” Nélisse told OSV News.
As a result, Nélisse’s close-ups didn’t involve watching the gallows, but rather, following a tennis ball that an assistant director was moving to direct her horrified gaze.
The hanging is not the most uncomfortable moment in the R-rated film. It’s surpassed, in that regard, by a scene of infanticide that’s explicit enough to make many viewers cringe. A sadistic German officer grabs a newborn child from its mother, stomps the infant to death, then shoots the mother.
Continued below.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
The Canadian actor, 24, has been making movies since childhood. So the scripted summary executions by Nazis — meant to terrorize the population of occupied Poland during World War II — were all in a day’s work.
Yet evoking an atrocity was not the problem. Instead, it was the possibility of running afoul of Polish child-labor laws. “We had so many background actors. (But) a lot of the kids had to wrap up in the afternoon,” Nélisse told OSV News.
As a result, Nélisse’s close-ups didn’t involve watching the gallows, but rather, following a tennis ball that an assistant director was moving to direct her horrified gaze.
The true story of a Catholic nurse
The movie is based on the real-life experiences of Catholic nurse Irene Gut Opdyke (1918-2003). Famed for her rescue of Jews, Opdyke was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli Holocaust Commission. In 1995, she received a special blessing from St. John Paul II who also invited her to a personal audience.The hanging is not the most uncomfortable moment in the R-rated film. It’s surpassed, in that regard, by a scene of infanticide that’s explicit enough to make many viewers cringe. A sadistic German officer grabs a newborn child from its mother, stomps the infant to death, then shoots the mother.
Continued below.
The true story of this heroine will make you think
The new film "Irena's Vow," which tells the true story of Catholic nurse Irene Gut Opdyke, is a story of heroism in the face of evil
www.oursundayvisitor.com
