6/10
Wajda's hit and miss masterpiece?!
6 August 1999
The opening scenes are pure cinematic ballet as the War prisoners celebrate their freedom from the German camps with the arrival of the Americans. The story then bogs down as we follow one of the prisoners, Taeusz, (Olbrychski), a poet who has emotionally cut himself off from the mayhem around him by dwelling into books and food. The Americans decide to keep the Polish prisoners caged until they know what to do with them. Nina enters the camp and edges Taeusz on to open his eyes but he refuses to take any risks. Only later does he become aware but by this stage it is too late. There are important topics brought up here via Taeusz but never in any cinematic brilliance. Instead we get a lot of talk and the occasional visual brilliance but not enough to keep the viewer interested.
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