A young man sent to fulfill his civilian service in Auschwitz discovers the inexorable link between the past and the present in director Robert Thalheim's though provoking drama. As part of his duties, Sven (Alexander Fehling) has been assigned the task of looking after elderly Holocaust survivor Krzeminski (Ryszard Ronczewski). Despite being treated with a scornful mix of impatience and arrogance by his headstrong charge, Sven finds his task made somewhat easier to endure thanks to the nascent friendship he strikes with pretty interpreter Ania (Barbara Wysocka). Later, as Sven begins to understand the motivations of Krzeminski's resentment, the link between yesterday's Auschwitz and today's Oswiecim becomes ever more apparent.

~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide