The story of the “Kaufmann” family carries extra weight knowing that it was filmed in Czechoslovakia just four years after the war's conclusion. Those involved in making this film—the actors and crew—likely still held vivid memories of the Nazi invasion, occupation, and reports about the Holocaust when they began portraying this tragic account of a family ripped apart due to their beliefs and customs. The experience is made more difficult because as fear escalates, the family begins to fall apart, all while we witness an imposing High Command that appears both unstoppable and merciless. The narrative develops through several different storylines. As Nazism gains power and its propaganda dominates the messaging, it becomes clear that Jewish people are in danger—not abruptly, but gradually, with bans from public areas, business closures, and social isolation. Focusing on the family of an eye doctor – “Hana” (Blanka Walenská)—seems to amplify the cruelty, as she, her husband “Tonik,” and her elderly father (Victor Ocásek) encounter discrimination and she is sent to the ghetto at Theresienstadt, where around fifty thousand of her people were confined, exploited, deprived of food, and compelled to give up their possessions to Germany. While there are occasional displays of kindness from some guards, mostly this is a horrifying system that quickly becomes a waystation for those in other places with even more malicious goals. The film possesses an undeniable authenticity that intensifies the ongoing horrors, and the entire cast demonstrates how unprepared both this family and the general population were when yellow stars began to appear. I can’t quite explain it, but it's often the female prison guards who seem the most brutal, and that holds true here as their sadism is very apparent. It's a truly unsettling film, though not an easy one to watch, which illustrates humanity at its worst and also its strongest.

Source on TMDB