Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

From my favorite movies..

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

After watching this painfully long movie, I sat several minutes in disbelief. Such an important topic! Such a wasted opportunity! The movie concentrated on whitewashing Poles and tried to show them as martyrs - there was nonspace for doubt, free thinking, a bit of reflection. The complicated history of Western Ukraine is shown without any respect to its complexity. The movie forgets about centuries of Polish occupation of the land, broken promises, past conflicts. I was ao incredibly dissatisfied! It looked like the director tried to shock the audience with violence to cover up the lacking in political and sociological analysis. Many fragments - like the opening wedding sequence - were given way too much screen time, with others - political movements, for example - were just brushed on. Whole movie seemed quite off balance. And the pseudo- poetic, metaphorical ending was just too much. It is a shame that the writing and directing was so weak. It is also disappointing as this director is very capable- see Roza for example. I fear political influence of the many sponsors. There are few good performances, mostly from secondary characters. The main actress is a bit lifeless, she's only ok in opening sequence, but it might be the director 's vision - her defence mechanism to what's happening around her. Severely disappointed- don't waste your time. Read some smart essays about Volhynia online instead.

One of the worst films ever made! No plot to follow. Very poor casting. You cannot tell who is who, as many of the male actors look too similar. Then for more confusion, the director/writer throws them into a dark scene so that the viewer really cannot tell who is who or what is going on. Poor writing. Too much time spent on the traditional Ukraine wedding in the beginning of the film which was very boring. Then continuous, senseless killing for the sake of killing throughout the film. This was just a poor attempt to make a Polish version of "Halloween."

Motion pictures set within time and place of a great historical value seems to be the current trend for Polish film makers. Every "patriotic" movie receives a tremendous promotion before it even hits the box office. It was pretty much the same case with "Wołyń". The director seems to be working with the same choice of actors which is a good thing as they can definitely deliver. The performance of the cast makes this sad historical drama gripping. The story which was based on the real (extremely controversial) events is also the key factor of a very positive reception among the viewers. Being aware of the fact that the subject of the story requires careful handling, Smarzowski included several scenes which absolutely don't fit the whole movie causing a bit of a confusion. However, the scenes save the movie from potential political accusations.

I must say that I really love that film. I have heard almost nothing prior to watching this film, about movie itself. However I am very familiar with those events at south-east of Poland. I love how Smarzowski managed to replicate climate of these ages, the bond between polish and ukrainian community and its slow corruption within the time. Suddenly the the slavic peace full of tradition is brutally interrupted by Germans aggression followed by russians one. obviously polish people were victims slaughtered by ukrainian peasants, but there is much more in this movie. all bad things what happens durring wwII are shown here, sometimes very graphic - but the truth was even worse. I enjoy the storyline, miracle survivors and the fact the human life price was close to nothing. The only flaw I must say, its bit small attention given to so called AK - polish underground army. they were haunted mercilessly by both sides Germans and russians and they were stuck between their commit to national cause and defending its citizens - however I understand this might be good theme for the separate movie.