1920 Bitwa Warszawska

My starting point for this film was no knowledge of this famous battle (and I imagine a good many people from outside central/eastern Europe know little about it either), which made this film a real cultural education.

If films were like singing, this film would be a rowdy pub singalong rather than a finely nuanced choral mass, but by the end of it, I didn't mind one bit. There are a few functions it should fulfill: to tell the amazing story of this battle (I had to educate myself afterward, and it really is an amazing episode) as well as to say something about Poland's place in the world, and explain something about Polish mentality, particularly with respect to Russia. It more or less succeeds on all fronts, even while lurching from almost slapstick comedy (a beloved art form in Eastern European film) to the horrors of war to the important military strategising scenes.

The nightclub scenes are really well done, with some great stage numbers, which although incidental to the main story, lend authenticity. The two leads - one a soldier, one the night club star singer are warm characters, and the rest of the cast are good too. The war scenes are not only visceral and realistic, but historically fascinating. At the point in time of this battle, the old technologies of canon and horse were competing with machine guns and armoured cars. But in 1920, machine guns often jammed (the downside), but were becoming lighter and nearly portable (the upside), while armoured cars were not much more than a T-model Ford covered in steel sheets, undoubtedly with limited range and speed. This meant that no single technology was decisive: in the end, a Polish cavalry charge is what sends the Bolsheviks fleeing, even though they had greater numbers and more 'new' technology.

Some scenes are set in the halls of the Kremlin and involve the conversations of Lenin, Stalin, and others as they plan the attack, justified by what seems today an absurd concept of a pan-European (and then global) socialist nirvana. It's hard to believe anyone could even think in such abstract terms, with a complete disregard for real human lives and indeed entire countries and cultures, but we know of course that it was only too real.

It would have been easy for this film to be a breast-beating Polish nationalist pride statement, but it absolutely avoids that stance, and in doing so I suspect would make many Polish people proud of what their forebears achieved in this battle, and how they are perceived today. For me, with little knowledge of Polish culture, it was a real eye-opener into issues such as the historical antipathy for Russia, and the insecurity of even being Polish during a century of invasion. The Polish general Jozef Pilsudski is portrayed as a real person, rather than a heroic personification of his erstwhile legend, and in doing so, allows us to reconstruct the legend for ourselves.

One complaint: the 3D is terrible (I didn't realise it was 3D until too late). I really hate 3D, and I found it terribly disturbing when trying to focus, particularly on battle scene long shots. Let's give this 3D mania up now before too much money is spent on it - it adds nothing, and detracts from the great cinematography.

I recommend anyone who doesn't know much about Poland to go and see this film - you will learn a lot. And anyone who likes cinema with real heart and soul should see it as well. As for Polish people reading this, all I can say is that I am glad to see such an important episode in your history finally on the big screen.

Here comes another history epic from the Poland's number one producer Erzy Hoffman who is a tireless re-creator of Polish war sagas. After a number of rather successful epic films dedicated to Polish Deluge period (late 17 c.) he turns here to a more recent - but by no means less dramatic and tragic period - the war for Polish independence from Soviet ("Red") Russia of 1920. The canvas he paints strikes with realism, meticulous attention to historical details everywhere, be it Polish fashion vintage 1920 or Red Army commissars' brutal faces, or the renegade Don Cossak's military uniforms. The war scenes are very graphic and realistic, the quality of camera work and dynamics of military action could well put Ridly Scott to shame. It is stunning how Mr. Hoffman managed to develop each character to a remarkable depth - they all, Poles, Red and White Russians are very credible psychologically and culturally. So my congratulations go to maestro Hoffman who created another quality history saga. 9 stars out of 10. One star less is given only for one drawback - very little attention is given in the film to the Soviet military genius - Mikhail Tukachewski ("The Red Napoleon") who was commanding the Red invasion and later became both the hero and the victim of Russia's Red Empire.

Oh, I really wanted to like this! Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed.

I have so many issues with this film. I assumed Jan (Borys Szyc) to be the film's hero, but he was absent for such a long time during the movie. I then aimed my attention at his wife, Ola (Natasza Urbanska), who was a far better prospect as the film's protagonist, but a bit unexplored.

Jan went to the war on his wedding day; while his wife was still in her wedding dress. We then follow Jan's journey from soldier to being accused of treason and sentenced to death. Luckily, he is saved by an invasion from the Bolsheviks, and his journey continued.

Ola in the meantime joins the army, as well, when she learns Jan is still alive. The film could have been so much better, but there was so much talk and so little action. The (few) action sequences were well made, but by no means impressive. I've seen many war movies and these battle scenes were not all that special. The film's colour grading also wasn't always great. Some scenes looked like they were entirely computer generated. Some looked like the camera had a filter over the lens. (Maybe this is due to the fact the film was shot for 3D. Apparently they used a Fusion Camera System, which shot in stereoscopic 3D. I suppose it looked much better in 3D, but I watched it in 2D).

One of the biggest issues I had with the film, was the score. Usually epic battle scenes have sweeping music, but with 'Battle of Warsaw' the score was almost too lively - like music you expect at a fair or circus. It completely clashed with the action on screen and made the battle scenes felt comical. Speaking of comical, moments during the attack scenes were actually funny - and I don't think it was intended to be! Tension could have been enhanced with a better score.

Ola was my favourite character, but even she was a bit unexplored. She had the potential to be a far more interesting character - like Rachel from 'Black Book' for instance.

Ultimately, the film fell flat on an emotional level. It simply was not effective enough as the love story they obviously wanted it to be. Note that it is still a reasonably good film one can enjoy, and it does have a feel-good ending.

'The Battle of Warsaw 1920' is one of those European films that ends up so (relatively) expensive that the filmmakers can only look at the world's best producer of big-budget blockbusters for inspiration. Sadly that ends up being the Americans.

Which is not to say that big-budget American films are all bad, but somehow foreign blockbusters seem to always learn the wrong lessons from them, and end up as Roland Emmerich movies. Like other foreign films I've seen (Chinese ones are especially guilty of this) Battle of Warsaw has several of the old Emmerich characteristics: fractured plotlines with multiple characters and side plots, crowd-pleasing, chest-thumping patriotic ambitions, goofy humor amidst what should be tragic. In this case I did enjoy it all more than I really care to admit, despite many absurd flaws. It's one of those movies where, if you enter with the right mindset, it will keep you grinning throughout.

Despite that there are two fatal flaws to this film and they come down to narrative and tone. The 'main' story is the romance between Polish officer Jan and cabaret singer Ola. During the post-WW1 Russian encroachment into Europe (sound familiar?) Poland was always going to be the focal point of conflict, so the military sends Jan, along with a large Polish troop and on the exact day of his wedding, to back up the Ukrainians and hopefully keep the Russians out. Jan himself seems to have a certain, semi-ironic sympathy for socialism, which quickly gets him into deep trouble with his commanding officers. Then the invading Russian forces attack...

A naive soldier becoming disillusioned with Soviet ideology while his new wife in Warsaw is led to believe he's a traitor---this is actually the core of a really great story, but the movie has too many other things going on. Jozef Pilsudki, the real-life leader of Poland at the time, is played by Daniel Olbrychski in many poorly connected scenes that are meant to add historical and tactical context to the battles shown in the movie, but are too fractured to succeed. These code breaker guys get a good amount of screen time. There are a lot of cabaret dance scenes and a bizarre subplot involving a lecherous older officer. Ola ends up joining the army with a bunch of other women. The different factions of Ukrainians, Cossacks, and Russians become a little hard to keep track of after a while. The movie is trying to do too much, cover too much ground, and as a result just shoots itself in the foot.

The second issue I mentioned was tone, and this one is the real doozy. The entire first half of the film, despite treating devastating historical events, plays like an absurd comedy. When it's satirizing Soviet revolutionaries this works: Adam Ferency gives a scenery-chewing performance as the vile ex-Cheka officer Bukowski, adding to the film a lot of color which evaporates once he's gone. (Similarly to R Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket). The scene where the Soviets pull unwilling peasants aside to form a liberated 'Revolutionary Committee' has a humorous irony, and the occasional cut to Vladimir Lenin expounding grandiose plans to take over all of Europe is a real hoot. The crudeness of the Russian invading force is accurately realized overall (by many accounts they really did just pull their pants down and take dumps in the corners of whatever building they were staying in) but this film is not supposed to be a comedy, even a dark one. There's a rape scene that's rightly portrayed as something horrific, but when it's followed up with another comic Bukowski sequence and then culminates in a sick punchline, the tonal whiplash starts to derail the film. The second half of the film nearly drops the comedy entirely in favor of frenetic battle sequences, which are gory and brutal when you can tell what's happening. There are some nice touches, but these scenes are too disconnected from the main story to work.

Maybe what makes this movie the most disappointing is the pedigree behind it. Several decades previously director Jerzy Hoffman had made the greatest Polish epic film of all time: Potop, or the Deluge. That film is renowned for its story (from Nobel Prize-winner Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel) and an iconic duel scene rightly considered one of the best in film. There is a duel scene here as well, but it's almost a parody due to the rapid cutting and shaky camera. These noxious techniques carry over into the battle scenes; cinematographer Slawomir Idziak had already collaborated with Ridley Scott at this point and that might be why the patented Scott action style intrudes into the film. Idziak himself is actually one of the best DPs to ever lens a film, as evidenced by his work with Zanussi and Kieslowski at least, but the overall look of this film is over-saturated to the point of unreality. He still manages to conjure up some phenomenal shots using his usual play on contrasting colors and lighting, but they're always interspersed with others that look cheap or fake. Maybe since this the first Polish film shot with 3D cameras there were some unforeseen technical issues that led to this.

How come, every time I wait for a good polish movie about some episode from Poland's history, I end up being seriously disappointed? Every time. With this movie being notable confirmation of this rule.

Battle of Warsaw. One of the most important events in Europe's or maybe even world's history. A tragic struggle, held on the very extremes of hope, justly called by some "Miracle at the Vistula", won by a thread against all odds. One would think such event would deserve an epic piece of cinematographic art. I thought so too. A movie was made at last. Why I'm not happy? First thing I despise is the lack of focus. Not the optical one – I despise the lack of focus of the story itself. It seems like creators of the picture wanted to show all of the battle breadth and depth, on every possible level: human, psychological, social, national, strategic and tactical. Guess what? It didn't work. It couldn't work. If one wants to emphasize everything, one emphasize nothing. If one wants to show everything at once, one shows nothing. All the potential of this movie was dissolved in different side-plots and micro-episodes, in the end loosing its proper load. This thin solution is spiced up with some cliché, overdone pathos and stupid, contemporary jokes. Humor in the movie lacks the feeling of a "safety valve" for troubled mind. It lacks a hint of underlying sadness, so specific for polish sense of humor in trying times. Generally it's just artificial and thoughtless.

Now a little bit about the story itself (don't worry no spoilers here). To me storyline holds striking resemblance to a bulleted list. Such lists are quite popular in polish schools as a means of putting down most important motives in analyzed literature works. They're also common in cheat-sheets. So it is in the case of this movie. Love motif? Checked! Social view? Checked! Great battle? Check! Enemy's view? Checked! The list goes on. A series of unconnected fragments. The problem is – the movie is contiguous as a story telling mean. Good movies are able to glue seamlessly all bits and pieces of single scenes into one logical, contiguous tale. "Bitwa..." in many places changes topics without warning and reason leaving many things inelegantly untold.

Next thing: photography. Sławomir Idziak is mentioned as director of photography. I say: no way! Take "Gattaca" or "Black Hawk Down". There is no way the same man was responsible for shooting them. There are some (technically) nice takes but they're mostly just copies of "BHD" style of filming. I liked them but yet hoped for something specific to this movie, something more innovative, not just another visual "same ol' thing". And about 3D... More and more often I think of 3D as a hype helper in the way: "We can't make it worthy – let's at least make it 3D". I don't oppose new techniques – they're interesting and have indifferently a potential – but I oppose using new techniques whether it makes sense or not. In this case – I'm not impressed, sorry...

And where does it leave me? I'm still waiting... hoping... and pray my wait is not in vain. In the meantime: 3 stars out of pity :(