It’s safe to say that films dealing with the Holocaust have a higher bar than most. The subject is so momentous that any efforts not reaching a certain level of quality can come across as exploitative. Lior Geller’s independent feature doesn’t reach those heights, but it redeems itself with the obvious care that’s gone into it, the excellent performances and cinematography, and the fact that it deals with an unfortunately little-known story that needed to be told. As such, The World Will Tremble earns its place in a very crowded genre.

The story begins in 1942 Poland in the Chelmno extermination camp, the first of its kind to be devoted exclusively to the mass murder of Jews. We’re introduced to several prisoners, including Solomon Wiener (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, ), Michael Podchlebnik (Jeremy Neumark Jones, Granchester) and Wolf (Charlie MacGechan, We DieYoung).

The Bottom Line More admirable than effective.

Release date: Friday, March 14

Cast: Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jeremy Neumark Jones, Anton Lesser, David Kross, Charlie MacGechan, Michael Fox, Michael Epp, Danny Scheinmann, Tim Bergmann, George Lenz, Oliver Moller, Adi Kvetner, Ulrich Brandhoff