Pan Tadeusz (1999)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Purely Joyful Movie!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Andrzej Wajda has been a great director at least as far back as "Kanal" in 1957. Tough films, provocative themes.But why the costume drama? I really wish he'd left this one alone.It's not unlike 1999's other bloated Polish historical epic, "Ogniem i mieczem" ("With Fire and Sword"). Here again Poles put aside their differences to prove they're the greatest people, or at least the greatest Slavs, on Bóg's green earth. Rah, rah. A crowd of Polish lesser gentry (rabble) armed with swords can defeat trained Russian musketry any day.And, yes, I am of Polish descent myself, although I'm embarrassed to admit it in this jingoistic context. That's why I was at the special screening in the first place, sponsored by Toronto's Polish newspaper."Pan Tadeusz" shares another characteristic with its elephantine contemporary: its ability to confuse non-Polish-speaking members of the audience with its vast number of characters and their poorly defined interrelationships.Both films too have a sudsy quality. So did "Gone With The Wind", but then character definition makes that historical epic a success. Tadeusz and Zosia are indistinct phantoms as personalities. Certainly no Rhett or Scarlett."With Fire and Sword" is more melodramatic than "Pan Tadeusz", but it's also more exciting. This film has a laudable grandeur which Wajda brings to the proceedings, but still I wish he'd picked a subject with a bit more substance.Wojciech Kilar can be congratulated on his score. And Daniel Olbrychski is always good to see, even with scars all over his head.It should be noted that Polish-speaking spectators at the theatre appeared to find this film quite enjoyable. They would be chuckling at clever turns of phrase in the dialogue, while the English titles would be saying something indescribably prosaic. Evidently the film loses nearly everything in translation.

Andrzej Wajda has taken a masterpiece in one genre (poetry) and not only done justice to it but created a masterpiece in another genre (film), one which did not even exist when Mickiewicz wrote the poem 166 years earlier.The actors are mainly well-known faces in Polish cinema and yet all rise above the stereotypical images many of the audience have of them. The greatest example of this is Boguslaw Linda as Robak the Priest. In the most moving scene in the film he gives the performance of his life.The harmonious blend of Wajda's direction and Wojciech Kilar's score is a sensual feast. It is a film which impresses a profound sense of beauty to such an extent that one could appreciate the sheer art of the film without even having to understand the language (I cannot vouch for the quality of the sub-titles in English as I saw it in its original version).If you only see one foreign language film this year, make sure it is this one.

I have just come home from seeing this film in Amsterdam, which was the West-European premiere (12 dec. '99). I did not read anything about this film, or comments that other spectators made. So this is a direct-from-the-heart comment on the 'naked' movie.I am truly sorry to say - and this will probably hurt many Polish spectators - that I think that as a film, 'Pan Tadeusz' has some important failures. Not being Polish, I do not have an automatic sympathy for Polish films in general, or for films about Polish history or about Polish literary works. I believe that for non-Polish audiences - or even for Polish non-literary-educated audiences - the film is hard to digest - if digestible at all. Besides, even my Polish friends were quite disappointed, and I think I understand why.The first hour of the film is particularly hard to follow. Lots of names, situations, storylines without any explanation; a language that is archaic if not swollen, and characters that are neither introduced nor stay on the screen long enough to become interesting (with the obvious exception of Gervazy, although the man does not need to scream so much all the time if you ask me).During the second hour I got some clue about what was going on, particularly when it came to the fighting scenes (no, I am not fond of fighting scenes, but at least I know what they are about) and with the help of my Polish company who gave some explanations. It is never a good sign if you need other people's explanations to understand a film.The ending of the film got me back to the more chaotic circumstances of the beginning, but it included a rather forced attempt to solve the 'plot' and then again left us with an open ending which did not interest me.In all, I think that in the transition from the poem 'Pan Tadeusz' to the film 'Pan Tadeusz', Wajda lost the strong points of the 'poem' genre, and failed to include the strong points of the 'film' genre. A 2,5 hour film focuses the spectator more on the storyline than a 20 hour book. The storyline of 'Pan Tadeusz', however, is for non-Polish audiences too thin and too mysterious to comprehend or value.Fortunately there is one aspect that was enjoyable: the gorgeous cinematography, the great landscapes, the fine camera movements, and the nice colours. Here I could see and recognize what a great cinematographer Wajda is (I never doubted that). I just think that there were some unfortunate premisses at play in the idea of translating the literary work 'Pan Tadeusz' into a movie. At least, it did not work for me.

This film is based on the masterpiece "Pan Tadeusz" written by Adam Mickiewicz, a famous Polish poet in 1830. Adam Mickiewicz was born in Lithuania in 1798. At the time Lithuania and Poland were connected in a political union and many Polish families lived in Lithuania. Mickiewicz felt as a real Pole. This film is about the Polish nobilty in Soblicowo how they lead their normal lives - they party, hunt , go mushroom picking and fight with their neigbours. But everyone is waiting for Napolean, the French leader to liberate and save Poland. The director of this movie is famous Polish director. He is found in the imdb with more than 30 films of his career.One of the most beloved literary works in the history of Polish History, "Pan Tadeusz" was never adapted to the screen before. The cinematography of this film is marvelously done. It demonstrates the beautiful fields of Lithuania, with its natural pictures.The greatest part of the film was played by Daniel Olbrychski. He showed real emotion and a true actor. He is also a known actor in Europe, starring in films, in Poland, France and Russia.I encourage everyone to see this film to learn some history and have some fun!