A Grain of Truth

In this riveting Polish thriller, a woman turns up dead in the small village of Sandomierz. Prosecutor Teodor Szacki (Robert Więckiewicz, Little Rose, SFJFF 2010), who recently relocated from Warsaw, having left behind the wreckage of his career and family, is called in on the case. The woman was killed with a knife used for shehita, the Jewish ritual slaughter of animals, and soon Szacki is uncovering a whole town full of deeply rooted anti-Semitism, including a huge painting in the local cathedral depicting Jews slaughtering Christian children and using their blood to make matzah. As the victims’ bodies pile up, Szacki must decipher the clues left by the killer and manage a crumbling relationship with his girlfriend. A Grain of Truth is based on the best-selling crime novel Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski, and feels like a Polish version of Seven with deep questions about faith, history and a town’s dark past thrown in. Drawing from the well of film noir, and with a nod to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, director Borys Lankosz examines the toxic anti-Semitism in contemporary Poland and crafts an entertaining and gripping thriller that will keep you glued to your seat until the last frame. —Tamar Fox