The Meryl Streep Roles That Prove She’s a Class of Her Own

Her second Oscar, and the role that immortalized her craft. As Sophie, a Holocaust survivor marked by unbearable choice, Streep transcends acting entirely. She learned Polish and German to live inside the character’s fractured soul. Under Pakula’s restraint, she makes trauma almost unwatchable for its truth.

Every word carries history, every silence, shame. The film ends, but Sophie remains — a wound cinema will never forget.