Nick Davis’s newest documentary, This Ordinary Thing, tells the story of non-Jews who helped save Jewish people across Europe during the Holocaust.

“Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.” – The Talmud

The film weaves never-before seen archival footage with firsthand accounts from more than forty individuals who acted independently—often secretly and at great personal risk to both themselves and their families—to protect Jewish strangers from near-certain death. Narrated by an all-star cast, the documentary underscores how acts of decency can surface even in the bleakest moments, revealing ordinary people choosing humanity over fear.

Strikingly, those profiled never viewed themselves as heroic. Their modesty gives the film an added emotional weight, prompting contemporary reflection. Davis’s documentary ultimately leaves audiences with an unsettling, deeply relevant question: faced with similar circumstances, “What would I have done?”

In crafting This Ordinary Thing, Davis relies exclusively on archival stills and footage that match the voiceovers. Per Davis’s director’s statement in the press kit, he never wanted to make a Holocaust film. Nor did he ever want people to know that he was Jewish. And yet, he says that no film ever changed him “nearly the way this one has.” I’m not surprised because Holocaust films—especially documentaries—tend to be emotionally powerful. Case in point: one of my favorite documentaries that I still recommend to this day is The Last Laugh, a 2016 documentary that asks if the Holocaust if taboo for comedy.

At a time when antisemitism has surged terribly over the last two years and change, you couldn’t blame someone for wanting more films that focus on Jewish joy. Believe me, I know I’d rather be watching more films that fall under comedy or allow for escapism. But at the same time, I know we need films like This Ordinary Thing because we have an obligation to make sure that events like the Holocaust never happen again. When we say NEVER AGAIN, we mean it!

This Ordinary Thing doesn’t ignore the recent antisemitism. Most notably, Davis opts to include the “Jews will not replace us” chants from the antisemitic demonstration in Charlottesville in 2017. Wherever and whenever we see antisemitism, we have a responsibility—a duty—to call it out.

One recollection toward the end of This Ordinary Thing finds Johannes De Vries (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) recalling a time when he and his wife were having coffee in the kitchen and talking about their experiences helping Jews during the Holocaust. “I said, ‘I still can’t understand how we’d be crazy to risk our lives for those strange people.’ And my wife said, ‘Yeah. We’ll never do it again, will we?’ ‘No,’ I said, and she looked at me and we laughed. She said, ‘You know, just as well as I do, we would do the same thing over.’”

We’ll never truly know just how many people worked to save Jews during the Holocaust or how many Jews they saved, but This Ordinary Thing notes that Yad Vashem has recorded 28,217 people as Righteous Among the Nations as of 2023. The Yad Vashem website lists 28,707 as of the beginning of 2024. The Holocaust wiped out six million Jews, and we’re still not at our pre-Holocaust population numbers. We’re inching closer, but we’re not there yet.

This Ordinary Thing notes that The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous honors and supports people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust and has reunited many of them with those they saved. I’m glad this film exists because it’s a way of honoring and thanking them for the sacrifices that they made. Even if they don’t view themselves as heroes for doing the right thing, they’re heroes in my book. If not for a lunch meeting with executive producer Albert M. Tapper, this film wouldn’t even exist.

I’m grateful for every single one of those heroes. My second great-grandmother—the sister of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski—was among those who were murdered during the Holocaust. Both of my great-grandfathers had sisters who were murdered during the Holocaust, along with some of their children. This is one reason why Holocaust films are very important to me.

It’s impossible for every person who rescued Jews to get their own version of Schindler’s List, but I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again: Steven Spielberg’s greatest legacy isn’t the films that inspired so many of us; it’s starting the USC Shoah Foundation. With Holocaust survivors becoming fewer by the day, the likes of the USC Shoah Foundation, Yad Vashem, and others will ensure that their story will never be forgotten. Even though This Ordinary Thing runs briefer than most Holocaust documentaries, it stands as an important and necessary contribution to Holocaust cinema—and a powerful reminder of why remembrance still matters.

DIRECTOR: Nick Davis
VOICE CAST: F. Murray Abraham, Jeannie Berlin, Eric Bogosian, Ellen Burstyn, Bill Camp, Carrie Coon, Hope Davis, Stephen Fry, Joanna Gleason, Marcia Gay Harden, Mamie Gummer, Harry Hadden-Paton, Jeremy Irons, Bill Irwin, Louisa Jacobson, Kasia Koleczek, Anna Krippa, Stephen Lang, John Leguizamo, Donal Logue, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Bebe Neuwirth, Kelli O’Hara, David Hyde Pierce, Martha Plimpton, Lily Rabe, Rufus Sewell, J. Smith-Cameron, David Strathairn, Lily Tomlin

Series of Dreams will release This Ordinary Thing in theaters on December 5, 2025. Grade: 4.5/5

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