The Innocents (15)
Directed by Anne Fontaine
4/5

THE FRAGILITY of faith when faced with the worse of human actions is explored in this powerful and multi-layered drama, based on a remarkable yet little-known true event.
It’s set in the winter of 1945 in Poland, where we see French Red Cross doctor Mathilde Beaulieu (a luminous Lou de Laage) entreated to help a group of nuns at a nearby convent. There, she discovers one is about to give birth while several more are heavily pregnant. They are all frightened and deeply ashamed, having been systematically raped by Russian troops.
The fear, the shame, the trauma and a crisis of faith are examined poignantly and skilfully in director Anne Fontaine’s finest film to date.
It’s hard to comprehend the horrors these women faced, which they desperately tried to keep secret at all costs with the help of their Mother Superior (a magnificent Agata Kulesza).
A haunting drama.
Review by Maria Duarte

American Pastoral (15)
Directed by Ewan
McGregor
4/5