'COLD WAR' which I saw late last week is a highly acclaimed Polish foreign language film that is Directed and Co-Written by Pawel Pawlikowski, and said to be loosely inspired by the lives of the Director's parents during the Cold War years of the 1950's in Poland. So far the film has won 22 awards and been nominated for a further 64 including being screened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski took out the award for Best Director. It has also been selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards to be held in late February, and has recently been nominated for five BAFTA's. The film was made for under US$5M, has so far grossed US13M and has received widespread Critical acclaim. Pawlikowski's last feature was the equally acclaimed 2013 'Ida' which took out the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film as well as 68 other wins and 84 further award nominations.
It is 1949, and in the ruins of post-WWII Poland, the chain-smoking pianist, composer and conductor Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) is commissioned by the Soviet state to form a musical ensemble to help rekindle national pride. He is one of a select group of 'talent scouts' tasked with the job of touring around the Polish countryside from snow driven mountain sides, to the valleys and the remote villages and towns armed with a tape recorder to capture the authentic sounds of traditional folk music, songs and dances. In turn, the top talent is enlisted to a once stately home to have their special musical skills honed and be groomed by Wiktor and his Producer Irena Bielecka (Agata Kulesza) for national and international performances - all under the guise of propaganda intended to showcase Stalin as a leader of compassion and connectedness.
Whilst putting the new recruits through their paces Wiktor come across the beautiful Zula Lichon (Joanna Kulig), a blonde fiery and charismatic singer with a past, having allegedly killed her father, or so Wiktor is initially led to believe. And so the pair form a strong bond, that ultimately leads to a relationship that ultimately leads them to Berlin for their first international stage performances, by which time it is the early '50's.
In the meantime, the ensemble of chosen singers, dancers and musicians have undertaken numerous performances across their native Poland and have grown in popularity and reputation, performing to packed out theatres, stadiums and auditoriums across the country. Berlin offers the pair an opportunity to escape to the West and rid themselves of the oppressive Communism that stifles their lives. Zula tells Wiktor 'I will always be with you, everywhere, and until the end of the world'.
Just as the scene is set for their escape to the West, Zula has a change of heart and leaves Wiktor hanging at the checkpoint. A few years later the couple come together again, this time in Paris, and rekindle their love affair amongst the smoke filled environs of the city's jazz clubs, where Zula feels out of sorts with the snobby individuals who frequent such places.
We then fast forward a few more years, this time to Yugoslavia where Zula is performing with her former band of traditional folk performers in what appears to be a celebrated sell out tour. Wiktor has purchased a ticket, and during the show Zula and Wiktor's eyes meet. But, that is as far as this contact goes, as Wiktor is picked up by the authorities and man handled on to a train straight outta Dodge as some sort of illegal unwelcome immigrant.
Five years later and its 1964, and Wiktor has been released with the aid of his old friend Lech Kaczamarek (Borys Szyc) whom he worked with back in the late '40's in discovering the local traditional talent that brought the pair together initially. And so in the mid-'60's the pair are reunited to rekindle their love affair once again, but this time on their home turf where is all began fifteen years earlier.
The pair journey by bus to an old bombed out church in a remote village where they conduct their own marriage ceremony in front of a makeshift alter adorned with a couple of candles and which they mark by sharing abridged vows with one another and then each downing a handful of sleeping pills. They then retire to a bench under a tree overlooking sweeping fields holding each others hands in silence, when Zula perks up with 'lets move to the other side, the view is better from there'. Fade to black.
Filmed in stunning monochrome with an aspect ratio of 4:3, 'Cold War' looks and feels like it was filmed in the era in which it is set, and because of Pawlikowski's deft touch and eye for period detail is a film that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression. The film is dominated by the two leading Actors who portray unrequited love for each other but are torn apart by political oppression, uneasy circumstances and betrayal as played out by two wayward souls who can neither be together nor apart, yet still defies geography and the passing of time. At times the film meanders a little and gets a little repetitive when our two star crossed lovers fall in and out of their stirring relationship seemingly so easily - not once, not twice, not three times but four times, but I guess someone once said 'love conquers all', and this certainly appears to be the case with Wiktor and Zula. Worth seeing on the big screen, and the film has a relatively short run time of just 88 minutes, so if your time poor but want to catch an impressive highly acclaimed film, then you could do a whole lot worse.'Cold War' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
