The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV)

Director:

John Kent Harrison

Writers (WGA):

John Kent Harrison (written by) and
Larry Spagnola (written by) ...

Release Date:

19 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of Irena Sendler, a social worker who was part of the Polish underground during World War II and was arrested by the Nazi's for saving the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto. |

Plot Keywords:

Warsaw Ghetto | 1940s | Rescue | WWII | Warsaw Poland

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Toms Aboltins	...	Dentist
Romualds Ancans	...	German General
Ruby Bentall	...	Stefania
Valda Bickute	...	Polish New Mother
Olga Boladz	...	Zofia
Gintaire Cepukonye	...	Frightened Mother
Paulius Cizinauskas	...	Prison Guard
Vilis Daudzins	...	Gestapo Officer
Michelle Dockery	...	Ewa Rozenfeld
Karolina Dryzner	...	Weeping Mother
Didzis Eglitis	...	German Soldier
William Ellis	...	Wiktor
Paul Freeman	...	Monsignor Godlewski
Fiona Glascott	...	Maria
Iddo Goldberg	...	Jakub Rozenfeld
Leonîds Grabovskis	...	Another Man
Andris Gross	...	Young Father
Jurgis Gundars	...	Small Boy
Uga Gundars	...	5 Year-old Screaming Boy
Scott Handy	...	Michal Laski
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Janina Krzyzanowska
Elea Hofland	...	Anna
Arnita Jaunzeme	...	First Female Prisoner
Janis Kangaroo	...	Jewish Folk (as Jewish Folk)
Leonarda Klavina-Kestere	...	Stern Woman
Girts Krumins	...	German Accountant
Leigh Lawson	...	Rabbi Rozenfeld
Girts Liuziniks	...	German Soldier
Girts Lukevics	...	Big Auxiliary Guard
Ariela Mareda	...	Miriam
Jeff Most	...	Familiar German Officer
Rebecca Night	...	Danuta
Sergei Novik-Marchenko	...	Jasio
Jerzy Nowak	...	Elderey Rabbi
David Ogannesianc	...	Little Izaak
Maja Ostaszewska	...	Jadwiga
Anna Paquin	...	Irena Sendler
Nathaniel Parker	...	Dr. Majkowski
Aleksandrs Petukhovs	...	Soldier
Krzysztof Pieczynski	...	Dr. Janusz Korczak
Erich Redman	...	Untersturmfüher Brandt
Janis Reinis	...	SS Officer
Kristina Savickyte	...	5 Years Old's Mother
Gleb Semionov	...	Two Year Old
Will Shadley	...	(voice)
Sofya Skya	...	Desperate Mother
Dace Smits	...	Sister Stanislawa
Martins Smits	...	German NCO
Steve Speirs	...	Piotr
Danuta Stenka	...	Hanna Rozenfeld
Davids Stepanjans	...	Big Kid
Imants Strads	...	Juliusz
Antanas Surgailis	...	Polish New Father
Anastasija Timoshenko	...	Young Jewish Mother
Sakalas Uzdavinys	...	Young Rabbi
Imants Vekmanis	...	Janek
Goran Visnjic	...	Stefan
Danny Webb	...	Trojan
Rebecca Windheim	...	Karolina Rozenfeld

Also Known As:

Miss Irena's Children (USA) (working title)
The Irena Sendler Story (USA) (working title)
Untitled Irena Sendler Project (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian | German | Latvian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Riga, Latvia

Company:

Baltmedia

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009) (TV)

Poignant.

I usually find Hallmark movies a bit schmaltzy, but the inclusion of Anna Paquin convinced me to give this a try. I'm glad I did. This was excellent, well-paced, and suspenseful. The character portraits were succinct but rich, and I found myself caring about what happened to everyone, which is quite a feat for a two-hour TV movie.

I won't give the plot away, but considering it's a WW2 movie about sneaking Jewish children out of a ghetto, you can probably guess where it's going.

Production values were excellent. It felt more like a feature than a TV movie. Give it a try.