The cruelty and ugliness of the Nazis and their collaborators is arguably most acutely felt when carried out against children. As The Boy In The Woods opens, Max (Jett Klyne, WandaVision) is attempting to lower his boot between the bars of a window so that he can collect groundwater in it to give to his younger sister, Zonia. Max, his family and a roomful of others are being held captive by the Germans. It’s 1943 and after two years of occupation, these few are among the last to be deported. When the soldiers arrive to force them onto a truck, Max’s mother, Faige, (Katherine Fodler) sees an opportunity for him to run as the rest of them are driven away.
Max, not yet 12, owes his ability to stay alive to his resourcefulness, bravery and compassion from a few strangers and some incredible luck. He first finds temporary safety with Jasko (The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage) and his family after Max’s aunt makes arrangements for the Polish farmer to take him in. To Jasko’s neighbors and anyone else, Max is Stashek, Jasko’s nephew. He’s protected until a suspicious Nazi chief (Christopher Heyerdahl) threatens the family and makes it impossible for Max to remain.
Demonstrating considerable courage, Jasko takes him deep into the woods to a hiding place that can provide shelter and has armed Max with skills like how to find water and catch animals for food. Lonely, hungry and cold in the woods for months, Max passes the time remembering his mother and sister, and sketching them with a feather, until he encounters Janek (David Kohlsmith), another orphan. The boys keep each other going, Max the stronger of the two, going out to get food and telling him the stories his mother had told Max, like about the Golem. Max tells him, “I used to think God had abandoned me, but now I think maybe God sent me you”. Miraculously, more than once, they escape falling into the hands of Polish “Jew hunters” and the police.
The real Max (born Oziac Fromm in Buczacz, Poland), whom I had the privilege of hearing speak in person in September after the movie screened (as part of a Q&A with Smart, Armitage and director Rebecca Snow), spent more than a year in the woods before Eastern Poland was liberated by the Russians. Out of the 8,000 Jews from Buczacz, only 100 were still living after the war. Not yet an adult, Max left Europe in 1948 and moved to Montreal where he became an artist and gallery owner. Max, now 94, shared his story with no one until Snow, a filmmaker, approached him to participate in her 2019 Canadian documentary Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust. It was only after those interviews that Smart allowed himself to write about what had happened to him, which became “The Boy In The Woods: A True Story Of Survival During The Second World War”.
Snow has honored Smart and his family with her lyrical, nature-driven portrait of brutality, grief, friendship and the immeasurable power of small acts of kindness. The ensemble is excellent – Armitage and Kohlsmith convey deep emotional depths in their moving portrayals. The captivating Klyne, on whose young shoulders the movie rests, turns in a layered, gutting, stunning performance.
The Boy In The Woods is dedicated to Janek and the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust. It’s a film that will stay with you.
‘The Boy In The Woods’ is available on demand and on Apple+ now.
