A Courageous Heart

Last night I watched A Courageous Heart, which stars New Zealand’s own Anna Paquin. You will probably know Anna from True Blood or one of her numerous movies such as The Piano, The X-men Series or Darkness.

Anna plays the character of real life hero Irena Sendler, who saved the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish Children during World War II. She smuggled them out of the Warsaw ghetto and placed them into Polish Catholic families who brought them up until they could be reunited with their parents after the war. Irena was a social worker during this time and was part of the Polish underground. She ended up being arrested and tortured by Nazi’s for her part, but managed to escape execution.

Irena went on to survive the war years and live a long life till she pasted at the age of 98 in 2008. She claimed that what she did during World War II was something she HAD to do and not something over which she had any choice. In 2007 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but lost to Al Gore. Which I personally think was stupid, she deserved it much more.

This movie will tug at your heart strings, and I can tell you by the end of it I was definitely feeling slightly sick. Not from anything too graphic but just from the sheer horror of what these people went through and the emotional toll. The movie has won one Golden Globe but was nominated for 6 awards. I highly recommend watching this movie it will open your eyes, and it shed’s much needed light on unsung heroes of the war. The acting in the movie is superb but there is a few bad accents, but this is easily overlooked.

I would love to hear what you thought of this movie if you have already seen it, and let me know if you do watch it. I seriously recommend it, but make sure you are in the mood because it is slightly depressing, and may need to be followed up with a light hearted comedy.

xo
Meg