The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler

Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz

This is a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" film unlike any other -- but more important by far, it's unlike any other ever made on this history of rescuers and the rescued.

Washington PostJohn Maynard

CBS's The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a masterfully produced made-for-TV movie, does both with its moving depiction of the Polish Catholic social worker credited with saving the lives of 2,500 Jewish children during World War II.

Baltimore SunDavid Zurawik

Paquin's first starring role in a fully adult role would be enough to recommend it, but once again, Hallmark has brought together a top-flight supporting cast including Marcia Gay Harden as Sendler's mother. Be warned: The subject matter is intense, but there is no other way to tell this story.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

It’s a straightforward and earnest account.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

It's not every Sunday night you get the chance to see two Oscar-winning actresses--Paquin and Marcia Gay Harden--together on network TV. "ER's" Goran Visnjic supplies a bit of romance, but it's Sendler's determined decency that drives the story.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteJim Heinrich

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler--terrible title, good movie.

VarietyStaff (Not Credited)

Even in a slightly sanitized form, it's edgier than most recent "Hallmark Hall of Fame" entries--with a powerful central performance by Paquin, if slightly underdeveloped parts for Marcia Gay Harden and Goran Visnjic as her mother and a former schoolmate, respectively.

Hollywood ReporterDaniel Carlson

It's a shocking juxtaposition of the banal and the horrific, and in that moment Harrison exposes the grief and true terror of what happened to so many of these people. Sadly, the rest of the film falls short, coasting on its premise instead of following through with delivery.

The New York TimesGinia Bellafante

The producers strive for a solemnity that cannot be called maudlin (as if there were a vast appetite for cool pop-cultural treatments of the Holocaust) and wind up with something that feels lazy, as if they believed the project’s noble goals were enough to carry it.