Netflix Just Added An 86% RT WW2 Movie With A True Story That's Almost Impossible To Believe

Published Sep 9, 2026, 12:44 PM EDT Senior Music Editor at Screen Rant, Sarah's love of sound and story drive the beat. A globetrotting brand whisperer and award-winning journalist, she’s built cross-cultural narratives around the world—but music has always been her true north. She launched DJ Mag North America, successfully introducing the iconic UK brand to the U.S. market. Previously, she carved a space for EDM inside the pages of VIBE, blending electronic and hip-hop culture long before it was trendy. As a Jewish woman with a dark sense of humor, I’m apparently always ready to emotionally destroy myself with a great World War II drama—and voilà, Netflix delivered. There is no shortage of incredible war movies and shows about the period. Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers have all become essential viewing for a reason, while newer films continue finding extraordinary true stories that somehow still have not been told enough. That is what surprised me most about Netflix’s latest addition. I went in knowing very little about the movie or the woman at its center, and quickly found myself wondering how I had never heard her story before. The film follows a young Polish woman living under Nazi occupation who risks her life to protect Jewish workers facing almost certain death. She has no military training and very little power, but she does have access—and eventually uses it to hide people in one of the most dangerously unlikely places imaginable: a villa requisitioned by a German officer. That movie is Irena’s Vow, which arrived on Netflix on August 31. And it is essential viewing. Directed by Louise Archambault and starring Sophie Nélisse as Irena Gut, the historical drama currently holds an 86% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The real story behind it is even more remarkable than the movie makes it seem. Everything You Need To Know About Irena’s Vow Irena’s Vow Details Release 2024 Director Louise Archambault Lead Sophie Nélisse as Irena Gut Opdyke Runtime 2 hours, 1 minute Rating R Rotten Tomatoes 86% critics / 83% audience Streaming Netflix Premiere 2023 Toronto International Film Festival Awards Audience Award at Vancouver International Film Festival; LIUNA People’s Choice Award at Windsor International Film Festival Irena Gut Opdyke was a young Polish Catholic woman working under German occupation during World War II. According to Yad Vashem, she initially supervised Jewish workers in a laundry connected to a German officers' club, secretly supplying them with food and other necessities. When the Germans began liquidating the camp in 1943, her efforts became considerably more dangerous. Irena helped Jews find hiding places, maintained contact with people concealed in a forest bunker, and hid others in both a laundry room and a villa requisitioned by German Major Eduard Ruegemer. She continued providing food and assistance while facing the constant threat of discovery and blackmail. Irena's Vow condenses that history into a gripping survival story centered on the 12 Jewish workers Irena shelters. Much of the suspense comes from an almost unbearable contradiction: the people she is trying to protect are hidden inside a home where Nazi officers regularly come and go. That sounds like something invented to make a screenplay more dramatic. It wasn't. The real Irena survived the war, and many of the people she helped survived as well. Decades later, survivors invited her to Israel, and Yad Vashem formally honored her for risking her life to save Jews during the Holocaust. Sophie Nélisse Makes Irena's Vow Much More Than A History Lesson Release Date April 15, 2024 Runtime 121 minutes Director Louise Archambault Cast Sophie Nélisse Irena Gut Opdyke Writers Dan Gordon Producers Jeff Sackman, Nicholas Tabarrok, Beata Pisula, Berry Meyerowitz, Tim Ringuette A remarkable true story does not automatically make a remarkable movie, and Irena's Vow could easily have become overly reverential or emotionally manipulative. Sophie Nélisse is a major reason it doesn't. Nélisse plays Irena as someone who becomes brave because circumstances repeatedly demand more from her. Early in the film, she is young, frightened, and learning how quickly the world around her has changed. As the danger escalates, so does her ability to think on her feet. RogerEbert.com's review particularly praised the subtlety of Nélisse's performance and the way she conveys Irena's evolution into an increasingly resourceful survivor. The movie’s restraint is ultimately its greatest strength. The movie is not flawless. Some critics felt its portrayal of Irena could have allowed for greater complexity, and the film occasionally presents an enormous historical story in surprisingly conventional dramatic terms. Still, its 86% Rotten Tomatoes score reflects how strongly the central story and Nélisse's performance landed with most reviewers. For Netflix viewers who gravitate toward WWII dramas based on true stories, Irena's Vow deserves considerably more attention than its relatively low profile suggests. There are moments when it plays almost like a thriller, except the most frightening element is knowing that the danger surrounding Irena and the people she protected was real. The movie’s restraint is ultimately its greatest strength. It trusts Irena Gut Opdyke’s story enough not to sensationalize it.