Sometimes films highlight little-known events in their country of origin that wind up catalyzing a re-evaluation of their nation’s history. Finnish director Klaus Härö’s Never Alone is that sort of film. It follows the deportation from Finland of eight Austrian-Jewish refugees by the Gestapo during WWII and the work of Abraham Stiller, a pillar of the Helsinki Jewish community, who tried to stop it from happening. Despite an uneasy alliance with Nazi Germany during the early years of the war, Jewish citizens of Finland had their government’s protection, although some Finnish officials would have preferred to comply with the Gestapo’s requests to expel them all. Director Härö has been called Finnish Steven Spielberg. It’s not a bad comparison. Like Spielberg, Härö is a man of faith (albeit Christian) and is known for his ability to wrap important topics in well-acted, smoothly-crafted dramas that entertain and educate, along moments of heightened sentiment that honestly earn their tears. –AS