My Mother's Courage (1995)

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This drama, set during WWII, was co-written by acclaimed playwright George Tabori and features the writer as both narrator and an observer during the filming of incidents from his mother's life. Elsa Tabori (Pauline Collins) is a polite and dignified woman who believes that if you do as you're told,… More This drama, set during WWII, was co-written by acclaimed playwright George Tabori and features the writer as both narrator and an observer during the filming of incidents from his mother's life. Elsa Tabori (Pauline Collins) is a polite and dignified woman who believes that if you do as you're told, things will work out for you. However, she lives in Budapest in the midst of Nazi occupation, and Elsa's optimism hardly seems practical when one is forced to wear a yellow Star of David. When Elsa witnesses the grim fate of Maria (Natalie Morse), a gentile who made the mistake of visiting a Jewish friend as the police were rounding up victims to be shipped to a concentration camp, she discovers that cooperation is no guarantee of safety -- and that she must find a way to save herself before she's sent to her death. Fate, however, soon intercedes in an unexpected display of benevolence. This was director Michael Verhoeven's third film concerning the holocaust in Europe, following Das Schreckliche Madchen and Eine Unheilige Liebe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi