Based on the true story of Louisa Gould, the drama is set during World War II on the Nazi-occupied island of Jersey. Lou took in an escaped Russian POW and hid him over the war's course. The tension mounts as it becomes clear that Churchill will not risk an assault to recapture the British soil, and the island-community spirit begins to fray under pressures of hunger, occupation and divided loyalty. Against this backdrop, Lou fights to preserve her family's sense of humanity and to protect the Russian boy as if he was her own.
The little-known true story of Louisa Gould, a widow who sheltered a Russian POW in Nazi-occupied Jersey, has all the ingredients for a poignant and uplifting film, yet it's a lacklustre piece that would have been better as a TV drama.
Not alt-history but a true story from a Nazi-occupied English-speaking place, a hugely relevant reminder that resistance to injustice is an absolute imperative.
This is a story absolutely worth telling, the closing captions leaving us in no doubt about the heroism of average Channel Islanders during those darkest of hours.
It's the kind of story that has been told countless times, and here it's told in such a perfunctory, plodding way that it brings nothing new to the party.
