As human beings, we tend to get swept up in sensational stories. We become obsessed with our favorite books and films and we accept them, true or not. But what happens when you get caught up in a story that is presented as the truth despite being so sensational that it can’t be? That’s what Sam Hobkinson’s Misha and the Wolves explores in a twisting documentary that grips you at every turn, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
[UPDATE 2/1/2020] Netlix has acquired distribution rights to Misha and the Wolves.
Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Misha Defonseca first shared her incredible story at a Massachusetts synagogue about her being separated from her parents when they were abducted by Nazis in Belgium during World War II and how she traveled to Germany on foot through the woods accompanied by wolves. A story that incredible doesn’t just stay in church and a publisher soon came calling, leading to a lawsuit before the author’s book became a worldwide bestseller. But when the scorned publisher began digging deeper, she uncovered a web of lies that could bring it all crumbling down.
While the author and publisher, Jane Daniels, are the two central characters, Hobkinson weaves in several other players. A wolf expert in Massachusetts, Misha’s friends and neighbors, a genealogist who helped Jane find the initial holes in the story, and a Belgium “Hidden child” of World War II who dug into local records and made some of the significant discoveries that proved it all to be untrue. Archival footage and interviews accompany recent ones for this documentary.
Cinematically, Sam Hobkinson interviews each key player in unique locations. A theme of floral wallpapers and woodgrain becomes used to also give viewers their titles, but Misha herself is absent. Unbeknownst to viewers until the end, she refused to take part and an actress stands in for her. It’s one of the film’s best-kept secrets, telling you, the audience, somewhat of a lie as you watch this story about a lie that grew too big. The story itself leaves you thinking, but this creative approach really wows you.
I somehow hadn’t heard of the story, despite Disney having reportedly sought the film rights, which comes up several times throughout the documentary. It doesn’t resolve how those plans fell through, with a film adaptation being produced in France, but as a Disney fan, I wondered what would’ve happened if Disney had a bigger stake when the facade crumbled.
Filmed across the United States and Europe, Misha and the Wolves is an international production about a woman who used the horrific truth of the holocaust as the setting for her own yarn. It documents how one person’s untruth can have a huge impact on other people’s lives and the consequences of that. There’s a real moral here at a time when we need it the most, which is the importance of fact checking and making sure statements presented as true are actually so.
I give Misha and the Wolves 5 out of 5 stars.