Run Boy Run” is a suspenseful, moving and ultimately inspiring Polish drama about a resourceful Jewish boy who survived the Nazi occupation by concealing his identity and moving from place to place throughout the war. 

Director Pepe Danquart, who won an Oscar for his 1993 short film “The Black Rider,” adapted the novel by Israeli author Uri Orlev, but Orlev’s book was based on the real-life experiences of survivor Yoram Fridman. 

“Run Boy Run” mixes elements of courage and compassion, with a strong message of the importance of identity. The film is part of the St. Louis International Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 13 to Nov. 23.

Nine-year-old Srulik (Kamil Tkacz) encounters kindness and cruelty during his lonely struggle to survive. Escaping from the Warsaw Ghetto and pursued by Nazis, Srulik is told by his father to hide his identity and adopt a Polish name, Jurek Staniak. 

But Srulik also remembers his father’s last words to him: “Forget your name, forget me and your mother, but never forget you are a Jew.”

This powerful, gripping drama is moving but free of the forced sentimentality that can seep into films about children. Director Danquart uses a far more effective natural approach, letting the boy’s simple human reactions and innate bravery and appeal win our hearts.

This well-acted and beautifully photographed drama begins in the middle, at a low point for Srulik in his journey. Alone in the forest and dressed in rags, he struggles through a snowstorm before collapsing at the door of the wife of a Polish partisan, a kindhearted Christian woman named Magda (Elisabeth Duda). 

Magda takes the boy in and treats him warmly. But because the Nazis know her husband and sons are fighting with the partisans in the woods, she knows it isn’t safe for the boy to stay. So she teaches him how to pose as Christian, coaching him on a story of parents killed in a bombing that he can tell as he travels town to town offering to work for food and a place to stay.

In flashbacks, we learn of the boy’s escape from Warsaw and how he learned survival skills from a group of children hiding in the woods. Although repeated encounters with Nazi troops send the boy off on his own, the skills he learns from the other children and from the partisan’s wife help him survive the war years.

Shot on location in Poland, the the film is visually impressive and epic, putting the boy in a natural world that is strikingly beautiful but changeable. At times, harsh weather threatens him; at others, the natural world is his refuge and hiding place — a friendly, sheltering environment. The contrast mirrors his experiences with people as he travels the farmlands and rural villages 

We follow Srulik as he struggles to find food, hide from the patrolling Nazis and survive harsh winters. The boy immerses himself in his Jurek identity and, as the war finally ends, a pivotal event brings the question of identity to the forefront.

 Young actor Tzacz does a fine job as Srulik/Jurek, handling the dramatics of his traumatic experiences well while still conveying the sweetness and appeal that helped the boy survive. He is aided by a strong cast, notably Duda as the partisan’s wife, Magda; Rainer Bock as an SS officer who can’t suppress his admiration for the Jewish boy’s intelligence; Lukasz Gajdzis as a worker on a German-Polish estate who helps him escape, and Itay Tiran as a representative of a Jewish orphanage after the war.   

Because it is a survivor’s story, uplift is an inherent aspect of the film. The story of this boy’s courage and resourcefulness is striking, but deft direction along with stellar acting and fine photography make this taut, moving, inspiring film a truly worthwhile cinematic experience. 

‘Run Boy Run’

When:  2:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, and Sunday, Nov. 23

Where:  Plaza Frontenac Cinema

How much:  $12

More info:  Part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. In Polish, Yiddish, German and Hebrew with English subtitles. cinemastlouis.org

Running Time:  1:52