Tag Archives: Poland

Speed / Lotna (1959) Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Pichelski, Adam Pawlikowski, Jerzy Moes, Drama, War

Speed (1959)
Poland, during the World War. Lotna is a magnificent specimen of Arabian horse, the pride of her owner, too old to actually ride her but to whom she remains faithful nevertheless. The Polish cavalry army is also proud of their land, and loyal to rules, and custom. The German army is leading an overwhelming speed attack with tanks, an almost unheard of weapon, and bringing a way of life to an end. It’s the last battle between Lotna (speed horse) and Blitzkriega (speed war).
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Landscape after Battle / Krajobraz po bitwie (1970) Andrzej Wajda, Daniel Olbrychski, Stanislawa Celinska, Aleksander Bardini, Drama, Romance

Landscape after Battle (1970)
Film opens with the mad rush of haphazard freedom as the concentration camps are liberated. Men are trying to grab food, change clothes, bury their tormentors they find alive. Then they are herded into other camps as the Allies try to devise policy to control the situation. A young poet who cannot quite find himself in this new situation, meets a headstrong Jewish young girl who wants him to run off with her, to the West. He cannot cope with her growing demands for affection, while still harboring the hatred for the Germans and disdain for his fellow men who quickly revert to petty enmities.
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Trzecia czesc nocy / La 3e Partie de la nuit (1972) Andrzej Zulawski, Malgorzata Braunek, Leszek Teleszynski, Jan Nowicki, Drama, Horror, War

Trzecia czesc nocy (1971)
The film is set during the occupation of Poland during World War II. German soldiers slaughter Michal’s wife, son and mother. Michal and his father avoid death by remaining in the forest. Michal decides to join the resistance but before his first meeting, the Gestapo kill his go-between and chase him. During his escape he gets into an apartment of a pregnant woman and helps her with the childbirth…
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Hrútar / Rams (2015) Grímur Hákonarson, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson, Charlotte Bøving, Jon Benonysson, Drama

Rams (2015)
In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country’s best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s sheep, the entire valley comes under threat. The authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain the outbreak. This is a near death sentence for the farmers, whose sheep are their main source of income, and many abandon their land. But Gummi and Kiddi don’t give up so easily – and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle and Gummi by using his wits. As the authorities close in the brothers will need to come together to save the special breed passed down for generations, and themselves, from extinction.
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Rejs / A Trip Down the River (1970) Marek Piwowski, Stanislaw Tym, Jolanta Lothe, Wanda Stanislawska-Lothe, Comedy

Rejs AKA The Cruise (1970)
A stowaway (Stanis?aw Tym) sneaks aboard a ship departing on a cruise down the Vistula River. The captain takes him for a Communist Party cultural coordinator and the intruder gladly adapts to his new role, immediately setting to work at manipulating the passengers and crew into silly and vaguely humiliating games. Before long, Tym has got everyone under his thumb and created his own comedic dictatorship.
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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) Andrew Adamson, Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Action, Adventure, Family

Prince Caspian (2008)
The characters of C.S. Lewis’s timeless fantasy come to life once again in this newest installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure awaits, battling alongside a new ally: Prince Caspian.
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Tanczacy jastrzab / Dancing Hawk (1978) Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Franciszek Trzeciak, Beata Tyszkiewicz, Beata Tumkiewicz, Arthouse, Drama

Tanczacy jastrzab AKA Dancing Hawk (1978)
“The Dancing Hawk” refers to the son of a peasant who senses he can climb to the job in troubled times by playing his cards right. His slavery to work match his ambitions, and gradually he reaches the social position he desires. But the costs have included a dehumanized soul and a loss of a moral conscience. People have had to pay for his advancement, including those nearest to him. The downfall is equally painful: either imprisonment or the easy wasy out are offered as the alternatives.
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Life Above All / Nad ?ycie (2012) Anna Plutecka-Mesjasz, Olga Boladz, Michal Zebrowski, Danuta Stenka, Drama

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Over the years, thousands of people recognize, until one day you meet someone who changes your life. Forever. So it was with Agatha (Olga Bo??d?). Relating internationally successful volleyball falls in love with no memory of Jacek (Michal Zebrowski). About dreamed of this love for life. Everything was going to be like in a fairy tale – a beautiful marriage, children and a house in the mountains. These plans are interrupted a phone call. After the dramatic details Agata begins a race against time. Will fight for each other, the man she loves and the child, which wants more than life. Does love endure anything? Do endures all things?
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Cien / Shadow (1956) Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Zygmunt Kestowicz, Adolf Chronicki, Emil Karewicz, Action, Drama

Cien (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1956)
The plot consists of a Rashomon-like investigation into the life of a man found dead after having been hurled from a train. As security agents, policemen and a medical examiner begin to piece together his identity, three accounts emerge: one set during World War II, one in the immediate aftermath of the war and one in contemporary Poland. In each, the victim seems to have been a mysterious, ambiguous presence, of shifting loyalties and suspicious connections, who invariably set himself against the ruling powers of the time. Critics of the day attacked the film for its depiction of a world rife with secret agents and hidden enemies – a favorite Stalinist theme – yet the film seems rather to insist on how heroism or villainy are so often matters of point of view and timing.
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Izolator / Warsaw Dark (2008) Christopher Doyle, Anna Przybylska, Adam Ferency, Leslaw Zurek, Thriller

Izolator (2008)
Prominent cinematographer Christopher Doyle continues to hone his talents as a director with this thriller set in Eastern Europe and inspired by the as-yet-unsolved murder of a Polish politician in 2001. A young prostitute is spending the evening with a prominent Polish official when he’s suddenly assassinated in Warsaw. In the aftermath of the hit, the triggerman takes the prostitute to an apartment and subjects her to a complex personality replacement program designed to wipe out any memories she may have retained about the evening’s events.
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La femme du Vème / The Woman in the Fifth (2011) Pawel Pawlikowski, Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

La femme du Veme (2011)
American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life together again and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. When things don’t go according to plan, he ends up in a shady hotel in the suburbs, having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit, a beautiful, mysterious stranger walks into his life and things start looking up. Their passionate and intense relationship triggers a string of inexplicable events… as if an obscure power was taking control of his life.
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Kingsajz / King Size (1988) Juliusz Machulski, Jacek Chmielnik, Jerzy Stuhr, Katarzyna Figura, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

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A comedy. The story follows a young scientist in the contemporary world, who actually came from the world of dwarves, thanks to a magic potion, held by the Big Eater, ruler of the dwarves. The dwarf kingdom, Shuflandia, exists in a cellar of a library, and only the most obedient get the chance to grow to king size and inhabit the larger world. Once there, nobody wants to return to Shuflandia. Also, there are no women in Shuflandia.
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