An old showbiz adage: never work with children or animals. There's a passel of each in this film, which as it turns out is not really the problem here. More daunting for the filmmakers--and by turns the audience--is the fact that we've seen this story, or at least variations on it, many times before. It is, perhaps, not surprising that after 75 years tales of heroism in the face of Holocaust are losing some of their impact. Even the presence of Jessica Chastain--this is very much her vehicle, and she drives it rather well, as always--doesn't entirely lift the proceedings beyond a standard-issue templated story about what a few good people were able to do during WWII. It's disturbing to be jaded about watching stories of remarkable courage in the face of unimaginable dreadfulness, but such is the state of being today, at this point in history this far removed from the focused days and times. It is worth contemplating the (continuing) need for such courage, and you won't do wrong to experience this telling--just don't expect to be blown away by anything presented here.
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