Rating: NR | Runtime: 109 minutes
Release Date: March 14th, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Vertical Entertainment
Director(s): Lior Geller
Writer(s): Lior Geller

We must stop being afraid if we want to live.

Written in 1942, the Grojanowski Report became the first eye-witness account of the Holocaust. Smuggled out of Poland to be broadcast in London, the world finally learned that the Nazis were building extermination camps to commit genocide. Grojanowski was the pseudonym of Szlawek Ber Winer who escaped the Chełmno “labor” camp with Michał Podchlebnik and fled to Grabów, not long before its own people would be gassed, in search of a rabbi who was said to have connections with the underground. Already forced to bury their own families, these two prisoners sought to do all they could to ensure the truth might spare the families of others.

Written and directed by Lior Geller, The World Will Tremble tells their story in faux “real-time” from the moment Wolf (Charlie MacGechan) puts his plan in motion until Rabbi Schulman (Anton Lesser) speaks the title’s words to trigger a cut to black. Szlawek (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) initially tries to stop Wolf from carrying out his plan of cutting through the canvas side of their transportation truck and running along the riverbank to Grabów. He knows their survival is tenuous and talk of the Russians being on their way is a nice fantasy to cling to so as not to volunteer his head to the chopping block. But as Wolf explains, they’re all dead already. So, there’s really nothing to lose.

It’s a suspense-filled journey that pulls zero punches as far as the abuse endured at the hands of Nazi officers from Szlawek being unable to reclaim his lost shoe before being forced to dig a new grave to Lange (David Kross) donning a smile while assuring his camp’s latest batch of Jewish prisoners would “suffer no more” to Nazis giving Szlawek, Michał (Jeremy Neumark Jones), Wolf, and others glass bottles to hold above their heads for target practice. We witness the same lies and torture they do as they keep their heads down to hopefully get through the day and commence their escape that night. We suffer their tragic fates as night turns back to day and their quartet is cut in half. And even when they do flee, it will take a mix of luck, courage, and wits to reach their destination.

I’ll be the first to say that Geller is doing a lot of sensory manipulation via Erez Koskas’ soaring score and Ivan Vatsov’s lingering close-ups, but I wouldn’t lie and say it’s not effective. Sure, some will reject it and thus the film as a whole, but I think doing so would be a disservice to the narrative structure and performances driving through its clichéd presentation to truly deliver the gut-punch nightmare these characters suffer en route to exposing how the Nazis’ deeds were not just your normal “product of war.” Jackson-Cohen, Jones, and MacGechan are phenomenal. We sense their love and empathy through each exchange as well as their increasing sense of emboldenment to risk what little time they might have left and attempt changing the course of history.

It’s a harrowing experience, like pretty much every film depicting the Holocaust, full of extreme displays of pure evil. The dynamic between Nazis and prisoners is heightened by the unapologetic laughter and cruelty of the former. Kross, Tim Bergmann, and others dig into the psychopathy of their roles to horrific effect, and, as a result, find how their desire to demean and torment their captives can also be used against them. It’s a fact that’s not lost on Szlawek. He possesses no illusion of superiority or safety, so even those trying to help him and Michał are met with a healthy dose of caution and skepticism. They can’t afford to trust anyone until that person proves their worth. One wrong word or expression could mean a bullet to the head.

The quick pace and fluid passing of time is the best feature of The World Will Tremble because this escape becomes less about the characters than the act itself. That’s what sets it apart from the more action-centered Defiance or other such tales of escape and survival. Yes, we still care deeply for Szlawek and Michał, but it’s through their grief and perseverance rather than our hope for their salvation. That’s not their goal. Nor is it the film’s goal. The mission here is to tell the world what’s happening regardless of whether that’s accomplished by them orating the truth or having a written account be found on their corpse. The information is key with Szlawek and Michał serving as its messengers. Everything they sacrifice proves that it will always be more important than their lives.

And I’d once again be remiss not to mention context with current events when talking about a film depicting the Holocaust. Geller’s decision to focus on the act of exposing what the world doesn’t yet know really helps explain why so many people still refuse to call what Israel is now doing to Palestine as genocide. Hitler operated in secrecy by leading lambs to slaughter in ways that couldn’t be combated because no one knew what was happening until it was too late. Israel is conversely decimating Palestinian lives, culture, and land in broad daylight. By conducting their genocide in the open, they allow their victims a means to fight back and be labeled “terrorists” in the process. Witnesses can therefore lie to themselves and accept the propaganda explaining away the death toll as a cost of “war.” Someone would stop them if it wasn’t, right?

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Jeremy Neumark Jones and Oliver Jackson-Cohen in THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE; courtesy of Vertical.