This movie successfully takes one back to the dark days after the fall of France. Jews have escaped to Vichy (unoccupied, southern) France, where they are trapped as the puppet French government and Nazi forces prepare for deportations to concentration camps. (The construction of death camps still lay in the future....). Varian Fry is an American of conscience who goes to France in the days when the U.S. was still a neutral power to see if he can assist prominent Jewish intellectuals to get out and to the United States. This documentary tells the story of his actions, and the first group out. It is low-key, subtle, but gripping in a very human way.... It truly takes one back into a time when good and evil not only coexisted, but shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, dined together, and smiled across the abyss at each other's visage.... Put this on your 'must see' list -- and take the kids, too!
Review of Varian's War: The Forgotten Hero
