Blut und Ehre. It’s German for “Blood and Honor.” Not only that, but the phrase was also utilized as a reprehensible rallying cry for Nazi Germany during World War II and the years before. It was their baseless justification for committal of appalling crimes against humanity. Cinema has—however—provided some microscopic but—nonetheless—cathartic examples of such individuals getting their due comeuppance. Take “The Debt,” “The Odessa File,” “This Must Be The Place,” some scenes in “X-Men: First Class” or all of Amazon’s Nazi-hunting show, “Hunters.” A new movie entitled “The Secrets We Keep” sees another Holocaust survivor granted the opportunity to make the red stuff flow out of the person who tortured her years ago.
Directing the project is Yuval Adler. This is only his third feature film after 2013’s “Bethlehem”—Israel’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards that did not receive a nomination—and 2019’s “The Operative.” The picture also marks the feature writing debut of Ryan Covington. Rounding out the contributors are veteran producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura (“Transformers” films) and Stuart Ford (“Hacksaw Ridge” & “Midway”), as well as Emmy-nominated composer John Paesano (“The Defenders”).
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The film features two talented actors that knew each other as far back as when they went to high school together in their native Sweden, per a recent EW article. Noomi Rapace (“Millennium” films) stars as a Romani woman named Maja, looking to put the past behind her. Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad” & “The Killing”) is the object of her revenge and the man Maja holds responsible for her past suffering. The article also highlights that their familiarity with each other allowed Rapace—in particular—to “go a little bit deeper because you have each other’s back.” Other cast members include Amy Seimetz—one of Kinnaman’s co-stars on “The Killing”—and Chris Messina (“Argo” & “The Mindy Project”).
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Here’s the synopsis:
In post-WWII America, a woman (Noomi Rapace), rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband (Chris Messina), kidnaps her neighbor (Joel Kinnaman) and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
“The Secrets We Keep”—distributed by Bleecker Street—is set to have a limited theatre release on September 16th and a VOD release on October 16th. There’s no expiration date on rightful retribution, so check out the trailer below.