Seeing the low rating of "Pilsudski" I was expecting some bombastic film in the style of "Warsaw Battle 1920". So I was surprised to see a watchable film where I learned some unknown to me facts. I admit that I was never that much interested in the personality of Jozef Pilsudski, but remembered from history texts at school that he was one of key personalities that helped in establishing the independent Polish state in 1918. I also remembered that he organized a coup in 1926, which overthrew democratically elected government. Some 500 lives were lost, oppositional leaders were imprisoned, freedom of the press curtailed and no further elections were held. In spite of some unquastionable achievements of independent Polish state during the years 1918-1939 the economical gap between Poland and the West was widened. That is why Pilsudski was never my hero. What is the use of so-called "national idependence" if it is used for stifling personal freedom of the citizens?
The movie "Pilsudski" was technically okay to me and kept me interested. Participation of some good and experienced actors like Szyc and Boczarska ensured that the acting was decent and I could concentrate on the story itself. I learned for example that Jozef Pilsudski organized acts of terror and had ethically questionable relationships with women. When watching the film I mostly sided with some of his political opponents and his wife. This work's biggest weakness to me is that the film is rather a set of different in quality scenes which don't add app to make some compelling picture. But I appreciate it's honesty in trying to show something more realistic than predominantly bronze image that Pilsudski enjoys nowadays. There is also another dimension to all this. Pope John Paul II, Jozef Pilsudski and Lech Kaczynski were taken on the banners of national populists' movement in Poland and there is a huge number of monuments, squares and streets throughout the country which are dedicated to them. For example there are about 840 monuments of Pope John Paul II and around 150 of Lech Kaczynski - in comparison to 14 monuments dedicated to Chopin , 12 to Copernicus and only 2 to Marie Curie-Sklodowska (with the achievements of three latter personalities belonging to the heritage of all mankind). National populists' 8 years in power were recently ended with disaster. The rules of democracy were not observed, legal system was warped and the scale of corruption and embezzlement of public money was inprecedented in Polish history. Monument example may be a good illustration of how much those people distorted the tradition of their native country too. It will take some years to straighten this out. Currently the secularization in Poland is fastest in the world and the question of legacy of Jozef Pilsudski and Pope John Paul II becomes the hot topic. So I am looking forward to more films about Jozef Pilsudski, Pope John Paul II, Lech Kaczynski and some other national populist figures, but made in the manner of Monty Python or film director Andrzej Munk (for example the remake of "Bad Luck" with modern acting techniques and with 21st century chapter added).
