There are some real-life stories that are so unbelievable they could only be true, but on the other side of the coin, there are others that sound so far-fetched they deserve to be examined under scrutiny. In many cases, that’s when things tend to fall apart, as displayed in riveting documentary Misha and the Wolves.
Director Sam Hobkinson dives deep into the jaw-dropping chain of events behind Misha Defonseca’s memoir Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, which was initially published in 1997. Claiming to be an autobiographical account of the author surviving a despicable period of human history to wander Europe and look for her parents, claims were even made that the protagonist was adopted by a pack of wolves and protected during her trek across the continent.
As it transpired, though, the whole thing was bullshit. More than a decade after the memoir’s release, Defonseca came clean and admitted her name wasn’t even Misha at all, she didn’t hail from a Jewish family, nor did she ever leave home during World War II. Attempts to defend herself from criticism fell on deaf ears (and rightly so), but the doc exploring the barefaced lie has become a hit on Netflix as subscribers bear witness to the tall tale.
Per FlixPatrol, Misha and the Wolves has howled at the platform’s Top 10 most-watched list in the United Kingdom and Ireland, painting an engaging hybrid of factual examination and enthralling mystery, one that seeks to uncover the reasons behind the author’s head-scratching decision to fabricate an entire chapter of their life set against one of the darkest and most disturbing historical and humanitarian nightmares in mankind’s existence.
Published: Jan 2, 2023 04:28 am