Those Who Remained

3/15/2026

Just when I think I've seen so many Holocaust films that nothing in that realm will impress me, Hungarian director Barnabás Tóth brings me Those Who Remained. I think I used an entire box of kleenex. Tóth deserves all the awards he received and he more he should've received. This is a brilliant film on many levels. His sense of color and tone are perfect, subdued and careful, never overwhelming the quiet devastation at the film's center. His timing is impeccable, knowing when to hold on a face, when to let silence do the work, when to allow small gestures to carry enormous weight. He makes post-war Hungary feel very close, not as historical distance but as immediate, lived reality. The film follows two people: a middle-aged doctor and a teenage girl, both Holocaust survivors. When we