This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I admired Marcin's performance in Rosa. Because of that I somehow managed to get this movie as well. It is a complete anti-climax. The director (incidentally another Marcin) is under the impression that to win an award, the movie has to be extremely real life. For the movie to be real life, it has to be gruesome.. I don't know where he got this idea from??????????You have a good set of actors, who try their best, at least it seems, to put up a good performance. The script also seems decent. But the way the movie has been made: it spoils a lot of things. If you look at the trailer: it would seem to be an excellent movie. If only these guys had made the movie in a simple linear fashion, I feel, it would have been terrific. What they ended up making was a complex and somewhat erratic set of flash-backs and at one place, childishly grotesque. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to tell a good story.

In the autumn of 1943, a small settlement of Polish partisans located deep into forest territory attempts to survive the gruesome hardships of everyday life, while fending off Nazi patrols and their informants. The man for the odd dirty jobs is eternally mumbling camp executioner Wydra (Marcin Dorocinski), who disposes of captured soldiers and troublesome compatriots with ruthless efficiency. When Henryk Kondolewicz (Maciej Stuhr), a local businessman with shady dealings with SS forces, is pointed out as a traitor, Wydra is sent to execute him. Meanwhile however the entire camp is caught unawares by Nazi forces, who arduously murder every man, woman and child...Never since "Memento" have flashbacks played such a vital role in building a feature film. However, in Christopher Nolan's debut feature the whole cascading jumps to the past served a higher purpose, while Kryształowicz (similarly this is his first film) uses it as a ploy to muddle up a plot, which is drearily straightforward to the extent that most flashbacks don't serve any purpose whatsoever - failing to expand the characters, story or philosophical tidings. Rummaging through images of now and then, a barrage of scenes is utterly pointless, not uncovering any mysteries, just seemingly functioning as a random choice of a shot to edit in between other sequences. This approach manages to somehow draw out a 40-odd-minute plot into a languid 100 minute fresco.Key protagonist Dorociński lazily mumbling through his lines does not help proceedings, for the first time ever whilst watching a Polish film I found myself contemplating the need for subtitles just to understand dialogues. Dorociński was the worst culprit, but unfortunately such laborious, uninterested delivery devoid of focus on enunciation is the bane of current Polish cinema, never however has it been such a problematic viewing issue. That said Dorociński delivers a very suggestive, high-quality performance, and his apathetic laggard stance seems to serve the character well - an honest patriot now resigned that his loss of humanity is a necessary sacrifice.Addiotionally the imagery is sublime, while the meticulous perfection at which Kryształowicz creates scenes using the full force of nature to underline the dark intensity of the situation shows that he is a talent to be watched. The story became somewhat undone by the lack of content and the somewhat gruesome over-exaggeration near its end, that unexpectedly throws us into "Inglorious Basterds" territory and causes the movie to further lose focus on is basically a story of how within the logic of gruesome warfare, good/evil become deranged mirror images. The movie obviously distances itself for glorifying martyrdom, instead upsetting with presenting the 'good guys' as unhinged by war atrocities, a far cry away from the crystal heroes of Hollywood pomposity. This in itself is a welcome new approach, only possible with a detachment for idolatry, which often characterised the previous Polish film-making generation. This new voice, point of view, on the past in Polish cinema is in itself a very interesting phenomenon, somewhat worth analysing further and juxtaposing to the big-budget glory pictures still rampant amongst the older directors.

Yes... or shall I say No ... Well it happened again. But let's start from the very beginning here. When you live in a country that has been ruined in a 1st and 2nd world war you can imagine and somehow accept that for some period in time war-related movies will be main stream of all productions. However it's years now and don't get me wrong here - we shall all remember- but it's more than 90+ years now and we have enough. Most movies made in Poland has something with war and how WE - Polish country are poor because of that fact. Yes I know - it has devastating effect on economy etc. but why shall I watch it over and over again since I'm 30+years now. So you have background now. Lets go to the movie itself. Not only had I feeling that I've seen it before but this movie is terribly boring. Filmed in 3 different locations (woods, house and windmill) causes your eyes to close in the middle of it. Action ? Well.. there is only one action - in other words: "Shooting scene" is only once... Actors are good. You will see quite good polish actors - this is the only thing that keeps it in one piece. Just to summarize - it's again about war, it starts slowly, it is slow and boring, and finishes very slowly - so at the end of the movie you stand up and say What the heck ? Not worth watching - save 1.5hrs for another movie. It is low budget production about scouts rather than soldiers - at least this is my feeling 1 day after watching it. Yes - i gave it some time in my head to process - with no effect - as it is not 21st century breath taking movie.

Having read some of the reviews in the Polish press and being a fan of war and historical movies, I was quite excited about this production. To my disappointment I found the character portrayals historically distorted, many of the twists in the plot absurd and some scenes unnecessarily grotesque. I found other parts of the film simply boring. The film has been rightly described as "a reflective affair composed mainly of dialogue and pregnant silences, with only very occasional spurts of action," during the Wroclaw film festival.The narrative follows different twists and turns. The main character, the executioner, acting on previous orders leads his former school friend (an informer) to his death, after spending a night drinking eating and reminiscing. He threatens his former friend's wife (his own former girlfriend) with sexual violence when his initial attempt to coerce his "friend" to leave to be executed fails. His "friend's" final request is then to look after his wife and become her new partner after the execution has taken place. The "friend's" death itself is a bizarre accident. This is later contrasted with the executioner releasing a young woman from his resistance unit who had betrayed his comrades during his absence and is responsible for their deaths. First he tells her a story about a dream in which he makes an analogy to animals who kill the women of his family. He punishes her by forcing her to serve two young German paratroopers toadstool stew cooked with their fellow soldier's cut off head. Difficult to follow, distasteful or just bizarre, this is certainly not the rough justice of the "Inglorious Basterds," or vengeance in "The Pacific." For a film that aims to shown the emotional horrors of war and human frailties it lacks authenticity. In parts it feels like a B horror movie. Is the director's aim to distort the historical characters and cynically portray their alter egos or unwittingly falsify Polish history? I grew up in London where many of the World War Two soldiers and the AK (Armia Krajowa) Resistance freedom fighters went into exile after the war. They were honest and religious, and their attitude towards women was one of romantic chivalry - the perfect gentlemen. Their ethics were nurtured by the Polish Scouting movement where charity and serving the community were the norm, and they were heavily influenced by Joseph Conrad's literature and his philosophy that "those who act only in self-interest will end up doomed to a tragic demise." The generation that grew up with a romantic notion of Poland's historic fight for freedom, is documented in numerous historical accounts, memoirs and letters written by the former resistance fighters. They firmly believed that they were fighting for a just cause as they were the victims of two totalitarian empires. In contrast, the consistently brutal language, drug taking and brooding sexual aggression of the characters in the film is in line with a group of ex-convicts or Poland's post-war communist security police, the UB. The notion of a penal unit, men well into their 30's and 40's, voluntarily fighting for a lost cause in squalid conditions in this murky forest is simply ridiculous. Most AK resistance fighters were in their early 20's or even late teens, as the older men, who had not been deported or escaped, would usually have large families to look after. Imagine the uproar, if Britain's or any other Allied Western nation's war heroes were caricatured in this manner for the sake of art. Perhaps to achieve greater authenticity, the director and scriptwriter dedicates the film to his father, a former resistance fighter. However, in an interview for the tvn24 news channel he states, "Dad died in 2004. I would probably not have been brave enough to shoot this film while he was alive. Entering into a polemic with the real memories of the people still alive is something that I cannot accept. I have reached a point in my life where I am able to make my own assumptions about certain events. Entering into a discussion with my father I would be forced to provide a picture illustration of the facts that that took place. And this does not interest me in the slightest." If, somehow, this is a depiction of the minority Communist resistance AL People's Army, then the director should state this clearly as again the historical distinction has great significance. Mainstream Polish critical reviews enthuse about this film, in that it provides a fresh insight into Polish wartime martyrdom and mythology. Post war, Stalinist propaganda in Poland also described the AK Resistance fighters as criminal bands, and the erstwhile security police, UB, persecuted the leaders. Scores of former resistance fighters were sent to Soviet Gulags after the war had ended. Rather than provide a fresh insight, does this film and its national critical reviews herald a popular revival in communist ideology through the medium of art? In line with contemporary Polish fashion dictated by local celebrities and the mass media, patriotism is an embarrassment (or even equivalent to fascism), times are changing, and one needs to chill, lighten up, with the pathos, parochialism and all that baggage, as Poles are now modern Europeans. Fifty-five years of Soviet colonialism and People's Republic social engineering have certainly produced a new historical paradigm.Perhaps I am taking this too personally, as a modern European of Polish descent, but this movie insults my heritage. I acknowledge the fact that there will always be dark episodes in every country's history. However, I strongly believe that the overwhelming majority of Poland's war heroes, who sacrificed everything for their country, deserve to be recognised as such in contemporary art and history, and must be honoured.Any positives? Sound-design and cinematography. Some members of the strong Polish cast actually do act well, but their efforts are not sufficient to save a film that instead providing a fresh perspective sends out all the wrong messages to a new generation of Poles.