I gave this film a miss for a long time, partly because I think you need to be in the right frame of mind to watch a film that is this heavy, but mainly because of my dislike of Roman Polanski. I mean he's a great film maker but we all know what he did, but I don't need to go into that here.
This film was amazing. I think that this film should be compulsary viewing in schools. I took History, we studied World War 2, I don't remember this film being mentioned let alone watched. Not only would this film be very educational, but it might just stir up a sense of compassion which Britain seems to be lacking at the moment, espeically in it's youth. So I think that the compulsary viewing of this film in schools would be hugely beneficial.
This film, like I said is one that you really need to have a set head for because it does deal with such a heavy content. If you aren't in the right frame of mind, you may get bored, or you may just turn it off as being too depressing. But either way, you should stick with it. It is a truely inspirational story about a man who withstood pretty much everything that the world could throw at him and stood up to it.
I would really reccommend that you see this film, it is an inspiration and a truely amazing film.