We Were the Lucky Ones Is a Heartfelt, Harrowing Story of Survival That Feels Timelier Than Ever

Given the general state of, well, almost everything in the world right now, it may seem like a strange time to release an eight-part prestige drama about the Holocaust. But with antisemitism on the rise, multiple countries at war, and a disturbingly widespread lack of empathy toward those suffering from the horrors of both, perhaps there isn’t a better moment for a show like Hulu’s We Were the Lucky Ones, which tackles a very familiar topic and time period in a refreshingly heartrending and powerful new way.

Based on the bestselling novel by Georgia Hunter, We Were the Lucky Ones is a story about World War II, and specifically a story about the persecution of Jews, but one that is very different from many that have come before it. Rightly or wrongly it’s almost a given, nowadays, that shows and movies that touch on the Holocaust do so by way of talking about its most recognizably horrific elements: the camps, the gas chambers, the scores of mass graves. And while those sorts of stories are, and will always be, both important and deeply necessary, We Were the Lucky Ones’ sprawling scope and setting help convey the breadth of not just the war, but the varied experiences of those who lived through it. (There was a lot more to the horrors of the Holocaust than the concentration camps, which is a fact that often gets left out of the history we learn in school, including the fact that some 90% of Poland’s Jews were killed during the war.) 

The series is told through the lens of a single Polish family split apart at the start of the war and spread across countries and continents. As they fight to survive and find their way back to one another, they must confront the best and worst of the human experience, from heroism and kindness to horror and betrayal. Yet, in another surprising twist, We Were the Lucky Ones is not nearly as bleak as its subject matter might suggest (though you will likely cry more than once). Instead, it leans into the small, seemingly miraculous moments of community and hope that light up the overhanging darkness, repeatedly reminding viewers that faith, like love, is both a choice and a gift.

The story begins in Radom, Poland in 1939 as the extended Kurc family gathers to celebrate Passover. Sol (Lior Ashkenazi) and Nechuma (Robin Weigert) run a successful business and their home is warm and full of the laughter of their five adult children and their families, despite the growing threat of antisemitism within their city and German aggression on their border. Middle son Addy (Logan Lerman) is home for a visit from Paris to the delight of his parents and siblings Genec (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), Mila (Hadas Yaron), Jakob (Amit Rahav) and Halina (Joey King). It is also an ending, of sorts, although the Kurcs do not know it. A little over a year later, their family will be torn apart, as Germany invades Poland and World War II begins. 

What follows is a sprawling story of separation and survival, as various family members are trapped abroad (Addy), sent to serve in the Polish military (Genec, Jacob, Mila’s husband Selim [Michael Aloni], and Halina’s boyfriend Adam [Sam Woolf]), or forced to live under German occupation in Radom (Halina, Mila, and their parents, along with Genec’s new wife Herta). Faced with increasing deprivation and a near-constant threat of violence and even death, the Kurcs must all make a series of heartbreaking and often seemingly impossible choices to stay alive. 

We Were the Lucky Ones regularly juggles half a dozen storylines and subplots at once, following characters across multiple countries and continents from Poland, Russia, and France, to Morocco and South America, with each sibling’s journey used to illustrate different aspects of the war. Addy, a composer and electrical engineer who loves travel and music, finds himself shut out from his homeland, a refugee adrift literally and figuratively in a world that’s rapidly closing its borders to Jews and turning a blind eye to the ongoing atrocities against them. Halina, the youngest child of the Kurc family who has struggled to figure out what kind of life she wants to live, turns her anger at the Nazi occupation toward helping the Polish resistance in Lvov, Warsaw, and beyond. Eldest son Genec and his wife Herta (Moran Rosenblatt) are sent to Siberia to work in a Russian labor camp. Mila struggles to keep her young daughter Felicia hidden from the Germans as restrictions in Nazi-occupied Poland tighten and she and her parents are trapped in the newly established Jewish ghetto. And everyone wonders if they’ll ever be together again.

The series’ entire cast is excellent, and the warm, lived-in chemistry between the various Kurc siblings gives the show much of its heart. But it is the women who are particular standouts, from King’s fiery Halina, forced to face adulthood in ways that challenge her largely spoiled upbringing, to Yaron’s quietly fierce Mila, whose determination to protect her daughter leads to heartbreaking choices, and Rosenblatt’s indomitable Herta, who faces down everything from pregnancy to backbreaking labor with a surprisingly uplifting spirit. If there is a weak link in the group, it is Lerman’s Addy, who gets the weakest overall material. Unfortunately, his storylines tend to focus too heavily on his various romances on his journey to South America, which subsequently fell insubstantial next to his siblings darker, more overtly harrowing plots. 

We Were the Lucky Ones is not a particularly easy watch—and kudos to Hulu for releasing the series weekly in order to give viewers time to digest the difficult material unfolding on their screens—and its continually split focus, unfortunately, means that it occasionally struggles to find a balance between its many competing storylines. But it is also a series whose whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts, tackling themes of family, loyalty, love, trauma, and tragedy in ways that will feel almost painfully prescient when compared to our current global moment. They often say that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and it’s hard not to look at a series like We Were the Lucky Ones and not hear the many voices from the past screaming at us all to do better this time around. May we live up to their memories. 

We Were the Lucky Ones premieres March 28 on Hulu. 

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB.

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