Came for the Communism. Stayed for the Music.

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2019)

Pawel Pawlikowski's newest film "Zimna wojna" (Cold War, 2018), is an interesting depiction of European history. The film starts in 1949 in Poland, and the narrative spans for over a decade, visiting many countries on the way. The film tells the love story of Wictor (Tomasz Kot), a musician, and Zula (Joanna Kulig), a young singer. They first meet in communist Poland and gradually come to decide, that for them to have a future together, they should defect to the west.
The film, shot in black and white, depicts a very interesting period of European history, although that history frequently has to make way for the romance. My biggest issue with the film was, that the love story, which is so central to the narrative, didn't feel that special. I did not really root for them to end up together, nor for them to split up. I was most interested about the societal depiction of the communist block and later, that of France.
The crowning merit of this film, however, is not the cinematography, although that too is great. It is the soundtrack. This film documents the evolution of popular music in communist countries and in western Europe, and does it in an interesting way. I found many of the songs really nice to listen to, and couple of them quite funny. This film sounds and looks great, and even though the romantic narrative did not really hit home for me, this was a positive experience.