My expectations were shattered. We left the cinema talking about it for a long time! Although the art style is beautiful, the way the characters and story is portrayed is also great. It's not easy adapting a 1,000 page novel series into a film, particularly when it has a lot to live up to. It really captures the mentality of people back then, especially in regards to the book. Some scenes show how crude and animalistic these people were. There are some things that are missed out but you can't expect everything with an adaptation. One of these is the way Jagna is more sensitive to nature, a bit more rebellious as well. However, i suspect this has to do with garnering at least a bit of empathy for her character as after all, if you can't sympathise with the main character of a movie, then it is harder for the character depth to be carried across. Some other things are how Hanka gained Boryn's trust with the money and how Jagna's mother really wanted to 'sell' her. I must say the design and costume are one of a kind, though. Overall some things are different from the original but they make it work really well to create a great Polish film. A masterpiece!
Review of The Peasants
