THE HOLY WEEK (WIELKI TYDZIEN) Poland

The horror of the Nazi years have been done to death and often inadvertently turned into soap opera by filmmakers. For Andrzej Wajda, though, those years are no abstract symbol-they’re a flesh and blood memory, and he makes them come alive here with the authority of firsthand observation. What’s more-restricting his story to the confluent days of Passover and Easter week-he marries the chaotic narrative of a Jewish fugitive and the family of Catholics who shelter her to the dramas both parties hold sacred. He does this with a light touch; the film never bogs down with allegory. The characters live, suffer, die or give birth in ways that are consistently surprising. Wajda communicates a deep religious feeling that would gladden the heart of any believer, but his livingbread sense of ethics and sacrifice would no less penetrate the heart of an atheist or skeptic. -F.X. Feeney, LA Weekly Mr. Showbiz on line. The Holy Week is FX Feeney’s Critic’s Choice