Educational Media Reviews Online

Broken Dreams tells the story of Renia and Ariana Spiegel, two sisters with extraordinary talents growing up in Poland during World War II. The film is narrated by a present-day Ariana, who begins by sharing her happy early childhood memories of life in the Polish countryside. Her mother sees tremendous potential in her youngest daughter and uproots her to Warsaw where Ariana achieves some success acting and singing. She would become known as the “Polish Shirley Temple,” until the invasion of Germany and the outbreak of World War II shatters her dreams and her family.

While Ariana appears to be the major focus of the film, the story eventually shifts its focus to her older sister Renia, who would ultimately achieve world-wide fame through the posthumous discovery and publication of her journals in 2019. Renia is brought to life in the film through her journal entries, which reveal a passionate, poetic, and insightful young woman trying to make sense of the chaos she experiences from 1939-1942.

From a technical perspective, the films excellent use of historic film footage of Poland and the extensive collection of photographs of the family helps to keep the viewer engaged in the story. As the narrator, Ariana is charming and provides firsthand accounts of her experience and memories of her sister growing up.

The film is recommended for use in history, World War II, or Jewish studies courses, although it may be too specific of a topic for survey courses, as the films central focus is on the Polish experience of World War II and doesn’t give much context to events happening globally during this time period.