Into the Arms of Strangers

In the nine months leading up to World War 2 the British opened their borders to over 10,000 Jewish children from Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia. The children were placed in foster homes in the expectation that their parents would soon follow. This remarkable film documents this rescue operation through the stories of some of the adults who experienced being part of the Kindertransport, as it was known, their feelings of being torn apart from parents whom they loved, their devastation at discovering their parents were trapped, their hope throughout the war of reuniting with fathers and mothers.

This is a great humanist documentary because it`s not just about loss. What struck me was that there was a grandeur to many of the adults who had been part of the Kindertransport, a generosity of spirit towards their foster families, who were often completely incapable of dealing with the emotional life of their charges, and an incredible ability to appreciate the life that they had almost miraculously been given. The mother of producer Deborah Oppenheimer had been one of the Kinder who`d been saved, and, Oppenheimer, who worked with the Oscar-winning director Mark Jonathan Harris, has created a most moving and life- affirming film. It`s beautifully structured and edited, with a gently informative narration by Dame Judi Dench. I must admit to being moved to tears by Into the Arms of Strangers. It is a tribute to the human spirit.