The World Will Tremble

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https://www.jiff.com.au/films/the-world-will-tremble

Date Reviewed: 28/10/2025

It seems inconceivable that the world knew nothing of the mass executions of the Jewish race during WW2 in Germany. The Germans led the world to believe that Jewish prisoners were being humanely resettled.

Written and directed by Lior Geller, The World Will Tremble tells the powerful true story of Micha? Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner, two prisoners who became the first to escape the Che?mno extermination camp on January 19, 1942, and leak the horrors perpetrated by the early Holocaust.

Of the more than 320,000 Jews sent to Che?mno (one of six extermination camps established solely for mass murder during WWII), only four survived—two of them, these two brave Jewish prisoners, risked their lives to send the truth to other countries and expose the murders and brutality of the Nazi regime.

Director Lior Geller spent over a decade researching this film, together with historians, Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, and the families of Podchlebnik & Weiner to create an authentic and heartbreaking retelling of their amazing escape.

The film’s epilogue states that Solomon's testimony was the first eyewitness account of the Nazi's mass murder of Jews, and on June 26, 1942, the message was broadcast from BBC Radio in London after the Jewish underground smuggled it there, marking it as the first news report on the Holocaust.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Solomon Weiner and Jeremy Neumark Jones as Micha? Podchlebnik give remarkably realistic performances as the two escapees. There is no Hollywood glamour or hype here, only gritty reality. The scenes of them burying the gassed Jewish prisoners are horrific, particularly so since two of the dead are from Podchlebnik’s family and he asks the Germans to kill him so he can lie with his relatives. Something we cannot imagine in our lifetimes.

The Germans are faithfully recreated (apart from the fact they often speak English for the sake of the film). Some are brutal, some are sadistic and some are compassionate, just as we imagine would have occurred. This period of the Holocaust was pre gas chambers, so the Germans herded the prisoners into trucks that could be sealed, then the exhaust was pumped into the truck killing those inside, those who survived were shot.

David Kross gives a remarkable performance as the Kommandant of Che?mno. One can’t help but hate him as he berates a soldier for accidently killing a young Jewish girl when she could have been used to pleasure him. It is truly heinous.

The cinematography by Ivan Vatsov is superb, bleak,  realistic and stark which perfectly matches the themes of the film. The music by Erez Koskas is full of wailing solo violin. Born in Israel, his music adds to the pathos of the movie.

Focusing on bravery, resilience, and most of all hope, the film demonstrates how the human race can survive and overcome the most evil of circumstances. As the number of surviving Jewish survivors dwindles, it is important that their story be told before it is too late. However, if you are triggered by brutality and sadistic acts, then this may not be the film for you.

The World Will Tremble is a powerful reminder of one of the darkest times in human history and a time that we, or our children, or our children’s’ children must never be allowed to forget. It is a film that is hard to watch but impossible to ignore! 

Reviewed by Barry Hill OAM