Sarah's Key

A colleague and I were talking about movies recently and she told me the story of Sarah's Key (2010). This adaptation of a French novel follows an American journalist, Julia, as she investigates the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942 in which a massive Nazi decreed raid of more than 13,000 Jews were arrested and rounded up in the veledrome before being sent off to Auschwitz by train.

A young girl, Sarah, attempts to defy the authorities carrying out the raid by hiding her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment. Promising to return in a few days to retrieve him, Sarah's family are irrevocably torn apart and the next part of the movie shows Sarah's plight to escape her concentration camp and return home to retrieve her brother.

(It's actually quite hard to write about this movie without revealing spoilers.)

Throughout the course of her investigation, Julia uncovers a direct link to her inlaws' family apartment in Paris, something that makes her distinctly uncomfortable.

I found this movie truly moving and woke up this morning still thinking about it. Sarah's Key tells of a lesser known but extraordinarily horrifying part of the Holocaust and shows how human nature will always attempt to triumph over evil. Very highly recommended.

Here is the theatrical trailer for Sarah's Key.