‘We Were the Lucky Ones’: Joey King Shines in Hulu’s Devastating WWII Drama
Gratitude is a powerful thing. Studies have shown how shifting your perspective—documenting and savoring the things that you can be grateful for, even in the most difficult of circumstances— can be the key to happiness. But the new Hulu series We Were The Lucky Ones really puts that notion to the test. Its very title is a provocation in that respect: To call the survivors of such horrific events “lucky,” by any definition or stretch of imagination, is to desperately search for a glimmer of light in a horrifying cavern of pitch black.
Based on a novel by Georgia Hunter, and on the tragic real-life events that inspired the book, the eight-episode series (premiering Mar. 28) begins with a sobering statistic:“By the end of the Holocaust, 90 percent of Poland’s Jews had been killed.” In fact, Poland suffered the worst death per capita of any country during the war, and around 17 percent of its entire population—a number just shy of 6 million total—was lost. Perhaps aware that death on that scale is beyond human comprehension, We Were the Lucky Ones encapsulates the tragedy through the story of one Jewish family separated by the war, and “lucky” only in how it was brought back together at the end of it.
Before the war, the Kurc family lives in relative harmony and comfort in the town of Radom. Success has shielded them some from the swelling bigotry of the moment: “Minor celebrity softens even the worst anti-semite,” young Halina (Joey King) teases her successful musician brother, Addy (Logan Lerman). Such lightness about their place in the world will not last. The series covers the subsequent seven years, as the Kurcs are scattered to run from dehumanisation and genocide. Some are condemned into hiding or to dreaded camps. Others make it across Europe with their eyes set on starting a new life in America, forced to face the timely obstacle of proving they’re the “right sort” of immigrant. One harrowing thread sees a family member forced to dig their own grave, while a parallel sees another who has coopted a new identity endure protracted torture as the Nazis attempt to get them to confess their Judaism.