★ 5 / 10
A rather disappointing old Polish war film.
Quet-zal
The film in inspired by the true story of Jerzy Szajnowicz-Iwanow (Karol Strasburger), a Polish resistence fighter working for the British in Grece during…
The film in inspired by the true story of Jerzy Szajnowicz-Iwanow (Karol Strasburger), a Polish resistence fighter working for the British in Grece during World War II.Considering thet the Polish resistance fighter was an excellent swimmer and reportedly laid mines under ships himself, spoke several languages fluently, and escaped from German custody several times, it could have been a really good film. Unfortunately, it isn't. The film main problem is its sheer chaos. Scenes cut quickly, and they don't always connect to an engaging plot. It look a bit like a poor students's essay, one after another, highlighting important biographical details. This prevents one from developing sympathy for the protagonist. Perhaps a multi episode series with a continuous plot and character development would have been more worthwhile. Unfortunately, the filmmakers took a different approach. Many scenes are shot in motion or from awkward angles. This heigtens the mood, but it's chaotic: a plus for some, a minus for others. For me, it's a minus. And finally, a turbo melodramatic, pathetic ending.PS The Film is aimed at Poles ad contains much content that won't be understandable abroad. For example, patriotic symbols and slogan painted in chalk are visible for a few seconds in the protagonist's cell.
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Excellent War Film and Biographical Drama
millerian-02797
A fascinating war film with tons of real explosions and fantastic practical war sequences, focused on a greek spy fighting for the greek resistance. Karol…
A fascinating war film with tons of real explosions and fantastic practical war sequences, focused on a greek spy fighting for the greek resistance. Karol strasburger is great in the lead, no time for romance, always focused on the plan itself, bargielowska plays a woman his age who he barely looks in the eye, all of the performances feel embedded in the time period, 30 years later these actors pull off feeling like 1940s prisoners of the war itself. Zbigniew kuzminski's direction is fantastic, some of the editing, framing, and war sequences are among the best i've seen in a movie all year, focused entirely on rightful chaos in each scene that plays like a gutpunch when it all builds up toward the end. The movie has an excellent gritty realism in its look, and the use of soft lighting during the dusk sequences are brilliantly crafted and shot. Scibor-rylski writes a screenplay always focused on the task, romance comes into play, but is tossed aside, he writes a script where the character feel developed without much dialogue, yet it feels remarkably by-the-books, almost like it plays into the mindset of everyone involved. The movie is also slow and dramatic, sure this plenty of war scenes, but the most central and best part of the movie is the capability of the precision in which they go about these attacks towards the Nazis, and how the dramatic sequences are an unfortunate exploration of how war dehumanizes its victims, leaving nothing in its wake but people who can never recover from the death they have seen, because that is all they know, this is also played by a fantastic set of performances, kuzminski's beautifully succinct direction among with a great choice in editor, the screenplay may seem empty but that is simply a guise for the cinematic beauty that comes afterward and before, a war movie that plays more like a tragic drama, a young man displaced, never has a life, and tragedy is just an inevitability.
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5.5/10
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