Surviving with Wolves (2007) User Reviews

an interesting hoax

[DogFilmCritic · 6/10 · 15 May 2015]

I had high hopes when i heard of this movie a girl lost in the woods that has help from wolves in the middle of world war two, and it was a book based on actual events my curiosity reach maximum levels...sadly i discovered that the author of the book Monique De Wael aka Misha Defonseca faked the hole thing and it was a sit back.

The story starts really good,Mathilde Goffart is amazing in this film and brings brilliantly Misha to life, she was the high point of this film she truly wins the audience with her performance, sadly there are some scenes in the movie that are just hard to believe their true and one can see why this story is so unbelievable to be true.

Still i did like this movie for all its flaws, i went knowing that this was a hoax but i saw the good and the bad and i can say its a good story if you can over look some details.

I recommend you try and judge it for yourself.

"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense."

Amazing Journey to East

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 3 June 2010]

In 1942, the young Jewish girl Misha (Mathilde Goffart), her Russian mother Gerusha (Yaël Abecassis) and her German father Reuven (Benno Fürmann) hide from the Germans in a small house in Ardennes, Belgium. Misha is very connected to her mother that advises her that if one day a person comes to her saying "love of my life", she would follow him or her without any question. When her parents are captured by the Nazis, Misha is delivered to a German family and the abusive matriarch gives a bad treatment to the girl. However, she finds support in the family of Ernest and his deranged wife Marthe that supplies groceries to foster family. Misha loves Ernest's dogs and the old man gives a compass to her and tells that her parents have been sent to East to forced labor. When the old couple is denounced for sheltering the girl and arrested by the Germans, Misha flees through the woods heading east. Along her journey seeking out her parents, she lives and survives with pack of wolves and crosses Germany, Poland reaching Ukraine. When she sees that Brussels have been released by the allied force, she returns to her hometown and reaches it in March 1945 almost dead, sick and with lice and malnourished. However, Ernest identifies the girl that does not accept that her parents had died in the concentration camp of Sonnenburg.

"Survivre avec les Loups" is an amazing journey of a little Jewish girl trying to find her parents that have been sent to the concentration camp of Słońsk (Sonnenburg). Despite the fraud of the author Misha Defonseca that fabricated her autobiography and confessed on 29 February 2008 that her memoirs is a hoax, the film is engaging the same way the also fictional "I Am David" is. The cinematography is awesome and a star is born with the top-notch performance of the girl Mathilde Goffart. Shame on you, Misha Defonseca! But congratulations to the director and screenwriter Véra Belmont and the stunning cast and crew for this magnificent feature. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sobrevivendo com Lobos" ("Surviving with Wolves")

Is Ukraine in Belgium's neighborhood?

[przgzr · 6/10 · 3 October 2012]

I was surprised very much when I found only one comment five years after release of this movie. It is not too old and therefore forgotten, it is not too young and therefore not recognized. And as I've heard about it many times on different places I wouldn't say it's unknown.

So, maybe it's because it is French, and I've found many French movies that don't have a single comment. Partly because French themselves don't like to write in English, while the rest have prejudices and don't watch French movies (finding them "either porn or perv" as my hollywoodized kids generalize, probably saying what most Americans and their followers have in their minds). And if I write a comment it often gains just few reactions or none at all.

Survivre avec les loups definitely isn't in the top French or Belgian production. It deals with a topic that became so frequent in French cinematography that it looks as if France can't clean its conscience and wash away the shame. I've seen unexpectedly many movies that cope with destiny of Jews, especially children, in WWII. From angle of victims, adults (Un affaire de femmes), kids (Une vie en retour), survived or dead (Le secret), even collaborators and their families whose members realize what some of them did during the occupation (Le piano oublié), during war or after it. So many European nations participated in WWII, so many have their own tragic stories (and skeletons in closets) but France appears as the mutual, collective European conscience, at least when we have movies in mind.

However, Survivre avec les loups doesn't belong to the upper half of these movies. Starting as a kind of Anna Frank story, and developing into an adventure movie it changes rhythm and wanders a lot between styles, not certain should it be a war epic or an educational story for young school-kids. And the part of the story that includes wolves is rather short and not that important as we would expect having some prior information about the movie; but the title might refer not only to real wolves, but wolves among humans as well.

I wasn't surprised that the allegedly true story appeared to be fake. Let's face it, who could believe the second part of the movie? A seven year old girl traveling across Europe, from Belgium to Ukraine, during two years, in wartime, and nothing happened to her except hunger and exhaustion? These two years include two winters, two strong war winters - anybody who's ever watched documentaries about WWII knows how cold those winters were. And maybe people from Australia or South Africa don't realize how distant these countries are, that the girl allegedly walked across Germany and Poland - try to find some detail cards or simply use Google Maps on high proportion… how could people living in middle Europe even for a moment accept that the story might be true? Or, maybe they didn't, but were afraid that it wouldn't be politically correct to doubt the story of a holocaust victim? Not only that such a young child manages to go so far, we don't get information how she did it, how did she cross Rhein, Danube if going south or Wisla and Elbe if going north (knowing how strictly bridges have been controlled - if she succeeded to do it, it would be a great story itself!)… but we simply suddenly see her hundreds or thousand kilometers from the place she's been in former scene. No explanation. No need for it, obviously. OK for fairy tale, but how could it fit into a story supposed to be true? But now, having in mind that it is just a product of fiction and made without big pretensions, Survivre avec les loups is a watchable and sometimes (but not often) entertaining movie with Guy Bedos in the (beside a girl) only interesting and well played role. A character not original for such a movie, but this movie wasn't planned to be a masterpiece anyway. And compared to (according to story) the most similar movie I Am David, this French one loses in literally everything that can be compared. Still, as I Am David is a great movie, it doesn't mean that I recommend avoiding Survivre avec les loups... but after watching David's adventure first.

Misha

[eugenia_kb · 10/10 · 30 April 2016]

The movie is excellent, acting is fantastic. It leaves a big impression because the movie does not focus on the suffering of the girl, but on her purity, strength and purpose. This purpose made her live. One more time I am convinced, that children who are surrounded by parents love grow strong, and are protected by this love in any circumstances.

I do not care whether there is a true story behind the movie and the book or it is a fiction. During the WWII the world was upside down turning people into beasts, and beasts into humans. For me, it is the truth and nothing but the truth, as thousands of children were wandering like Misha denied and abused by the human pack. The only safe place for them was woods, and holes in the earth.

Despite the drama, the movie leaves only positive emotions. Misha's strength is amazing, the producers managed to show it. I would advise to watch the movie. You will remember it for long.

Big thanks for filming it!!! It is a great movie, the great work, the great story.

A hoax but the real story is better than this film

[Janet1612 · 1/10 · 3 February 2022]

There is a great documentary on this story. Publisher Jane Daniels offers to publish MIsha's story - as far fetched as it sounds; Misha claims to be a 'Holocaust surviver' not in a camp, but living in the forest with wolves after her parents 'disappeared'. (Yes, living with wolves)

After publishing in the US, Misha refuses to publicise the book and falls out with Jane . We were saying that maybe she was shy, and not everyone would be happy going on TV. Little did we know. Court case ensued and everyone believed the 'Holocaust victim'. Jane was sued and asked to pay 22 milllion dollars to Misha (yes 22 million, only in the US eh?!).

Somehow Misha's 'life story' was taken up by someone else and published in France and Belgium and sold well, This film came later. Misha was transformed, travelling from the US to Belgium, lapping up the publicity, relating tales of knifing a Nazi solider when he raped a girl, looking for her parents, and telling all and sundry about her two years living with the wolves (yes). All the while crying on TV, and on her visits to schools.

Jane, the publisher, whilst trying to sort her life out, started a blog about MIsha's tale and the court case. This was seen by a genealogist who became involved in the research of MIsha's life, with the help of a researcher in Belgium they uncover some interesting information. Later a journalist continues with the investigation.

It turns out that Misha's story was a complete and utter lie - she turns to the sympathy vote and says that because her dad was a resistance traitor (who shopped all of his fellow fighters to the Nazi's and subsequently had his name erased from a war memorial), she created a new life story.

Misha was on several European TV programmes telling her 'tale'. She even visited schools and spoke to the children of the horrors of war, her search for her parents, and her life with the wolves. Yet all the time, MIsha was living comfortably with her grandparents, attending school and living in Belgium. Such a betrayal of trust. Who would disbelieve a holocaust survivor?

I hope Jane Daniels has a book published as the story is fascinating.

The only 'suffering' MIsha experienced was being the daughter of a cowardly traitor - how can that be compared with the sufferings of victims of war and those in the prison camps. Despite not being Jewish (she was raised a Catholic), her neighbour states she asked for and was given money from the local Holocaust survivors' pot of money. How low can you get.

Over the top Dark Fairytale HOAX!! :O

[midnitepantera · 5/10 · 19 November 2021]

I found the character of Misha very annoying and selfish and hardheaded, as well as rude (which isn't believable for the time period of WWII, kids had more manners and most parents would give you a smack upside the head if you acted and talked to adults like that back in the day). So already Not very believable going in, and the girl was totally unlikable to me. (Not the actress, but the character she played)

I Loved the Wolves, they were wonderful little actors and I started to enjoy the Misha character more, when she was away from humans and only interacting with the wolves and wildlife. But I couldn't help but wonder how many REAL animals died for this movie, as I didn't notice any (NO Animals were harmed... at the end) :( So Yeah, I didn't enjoy the thought of that rattling around in my head thru the whole film either.

The story is too over the top fantastical. That girl would have died from 100 things in the 1st week. (Frostbite, hypothermia, infection, bacteria, gastritis, bleeding, disease, internal and external parasites, anemia... ) No way we are gonna believe she lasted 3 years like this. Give me a Break.

I'm giving it a 5 because the wolves and the pups were beautiful and magical and I did enjoy the girl when she was among the animals. Not something I would watch again, especially knowing about the Cruel Hoax of the Real Mischa regarding this Truly Unbelievable Tale. :(