SYNOPSICS
Joanna (2010) is a Polish,French,German movie. Feliks Falk has directed this movie. Urszula Grabowska,Sara Knothe,Stanislawa Celinska,Kinga Preis are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2010. Joanna (2010) is considered one of the best Drama,War movie in India and around the world.
The main character Joanna (Urszula Grabowska), waiting in vain for a letter from her husband who is in an Oflag, gives shelter to a little Jewish girl whose mother was caught during a round-up. Thus she becomes burdened with a secret she cannot reveal to anyone, even to her relatives. Joanna knows that she cannot keep Rose with her as she is already under observation, but she fails to find a hiding spot for Rose and is forced to become the lover of a German officer in return for protection. Forced by necessity, she has to cooperate with her enemies, becoming a traitor in the eyes of "her people". The final, symbolic image is suggestive - in a tearful and religious manner - of the fact that sheltering little Roza was Joanna's personal torture referring to Golgotha. However, the deeper meaning of that story is perverse and bitter: hiding the child was even more dangerous because of Joanna's "own people", mutually controlling the patriotic decency.
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Joanna (2010) Reviews
Excellent drama about dilemmas and unexpected kindness
Poland is popping out potential classics lately. This one is no different. In world war II occupied Poland the life of Joanna, a lonely woman waiting for her husband to return while getting by on odd jobs, drastically changes when she finds a Jewish girl hiding in a church. In a world where nobody can be trusted the roles of enemies and allies continually shift. Wonderfully filmed in pale colours with eye for detail. It shows exceptionally well how average people become heroes with acts of kindness and how mistrust and fear during war time makes people do the most horrendous things.
A wonderful and heartfelt movie
This is an amazingly beautiful movie. I do agree with the other two viewers' comments on this wonderfully scripted, directed, performed Polish movie. The tones of this movie are reserved in classic blue and green, the lighting is perfectly natural, giving you an realistic pessimistic feeling of that dreary era when Poland was occupied by the German Nazi. The loneliness of the heroine and that cute little girl are a beautiful unity of consolation and humanity. I was amazed by the subtle touch of the performances of all the Polish actors, they are so natural under a very good director. The romance developed from the house raid also looked so logic and natural, a wonderful scenario. The actress who played Joanna should be awarded with some kind best performing artist, so good and so convincing as a lonely, kind, yet so strong woman. Love her great performance so much. I also noticed that she's the fastest walking woman in any movie that involved any woman who had to walk along city streets, so fast, flowing like gliding on water. Hiding a little Jewish girl in Nazi Poland not just courage, generosity and kindness but luck, pure luck.
Just shy of perfection.
Overall a good story. Well directed, with great cinematography, cinematography with subdued mood, one that's not detracting from the picture but enriching it. In few instances however (especially in the opening scenes) the director rushed too much info at the viewer, trying to explain the circumstances, trying to get the story rolling. Instead - the viewer would have been better served having to wait (to delay) the discovery of the few pertaining details that wove to create the story. After the movie we've met with the director who, despite his broken English, vigorously defended, what most people found to be a gloomy, uninspiring ending. In his own words he viewed it as "open ended ending".
One of the gem of movies
It's very hard to find a movie which is so heartfelt and mesmerizing. Kudos to the director and whole cast and crew for such an amazing movie. Was never a fan or hater of Hitler but after watching this movie I realized that if his action would have brought such atrocities to a simple little girl then its better to have an opinion than never. About this movie, great directing except the ending could have had lots of possibilities. The cast was very good and for the little girl Sara Knothe.. hat's off girl. The story was 9 out of 10 as I rated already. This is indeed a kind of movie to recommend to other people.
A ray of light in the darkness
Joanna is a woman with a number of troubling issues: Her husband was recruited as a Polish soldier and she has not heard of him after the German invasion. The café she has been working at has closed after a raid, and she is likely to loose her apartment because it is too big for a single person. She adds to her trouble by rescuing a Jewish girl whose mother has been caught in a raid. She now has to protect the girl not only from the Germans, but also from the prying eyes of neighbors and relatives. The girl is discovered by a German officer and in order to save herself and the child she offers herself to him, but this relationship gets her into trouble with the local Resistance. She then gives the child to a Monastery and flees Poland with an unclear destination. The movie is very well acted and the situations are believable, but it seems to me that the story is fiction. Many Poles have rescued children during the war, and many children were rescued by the Catholic church, so the story is not entirely fiction, but usually movies of this genre are based on real life stories. This is my only criticism of otherwise a very well made film.