Controversial new World War 2 film unearths true story of Nazi collaboration | Films | Entertainment

This month, a controversial new World War 2 film is debuting in the UK at London’s Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, which starts today.

White Courage (Biała Odwaga) had a mixed reception upon its release in Poland last year.

Set in the late 1930s in the run-up to World War 2, the film follows a Polish Highlander family torn apart by collaboration with Nazi Germany.

The period drama focuses on Goranlenvolk, a term invented by the Nazis to refer to the Goral highlander population in the Podhale region of southern Poland.

To get the Gorals to collaborate with the SS during the occupation, the Nazis proclaimed them as part of Germanic descent and thus they were treated differently from other Poles.

The film was particularly controversial in Poland as Polish resistance is often the historical emphasis of the occupied country’s role in World War 2.

Some historians and critics argue the film isn’t nuanced enough, as while some Gorals did work with the Nazis, others resisted them. Nevertheless, it’s certainly sparked a debate about wartime Poland.

White Courage screens at the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival on March 22 and a UK release date is TBC.