“I will wash it out”: Holocaust Reconciliation in Agnieszka Holland’s 2011 Film In Darkness

In her recent film In Darkness, Agnieszka Holland constructs two perspectives on the Holocaust: one Polish-Catholic and the other Jewish. This article examines the cinematic techniques and devices employed in the film to block the emergence of a hegemonic “gaze,” or overriding narrative. Instead, the director works to produce parallel narratives and a de-centered perspective so that the viewer cannot develop an allegiance to a single character. The author maintains that Holland uses these artistic strategies to produce a reconciliatory discourse on Polish-Jewish relationships during the Holocaust.