One of the more memorable films about the Holocaust.

Tense and emotionally brutal.

suggests the sheer impossibility of ever knowing the Holocaust while simultaneously reassuring us that we can always know individual human beings

A Czech man takes over a Jewish-run business at the behest of the town's Nazi occupiers. Filled with tense, ethical quandaries, this film is absolutely remarkable. As Tono takes over an elderly woman's shop and learns the Jewish community that supports her, his prejudices wane, but there is still a gulf between belief and action - a gulf that I suspect infected many in the wake of Nazi atrocities. His weak-willed inability to stand up for others and his pride-busting benefits from his job present him with serious ethical questions that he ultimately fails to resolve. The performances by Josef Kroner and Ida Kaminska are as compelling as actors can be, and the direction by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos is blithe and compelling. Overall, this is one of the finest films I've ever seen about WWII.

The struggle to maintain a loyalty born out of an unusual friendship in the midst of war and racial persecution is explored with subtlety and great melancholy.