The Choice

Hungarian Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eger, who died April 27 at age 98, became a clinical psychologist during her long post-World War II life in El Paso. It was here that she first came to terms with her trauma while working with Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSD. She later moved to the San Diego area and wrote a 2017 best-seller about her transformation, The Choice: Embrace the Possible. Writer-director John David Coles (TV’s Homeland, House of Cards) doesn’t attempt to turn the memoir into a documentary. He uses it as a starting point to connect Dr. Eger’s trauma to that of Iris Haim, an Israeli mother whose son was killed by Hamas after its devastating 2023 raid on Israel. The bond they form helps Haim begin to see a way forward in this captivating documentary that makes its El Paso premiere at the 2026 Plaza Classic. — Doug Pullen