An extraordinary achievement

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2018)

I had the good fortune to see this excellent film at the Pod Baranami film house in KrakÃ³w in July... at the (heartbreaking) end of the film the audience sat in silence while the credits rolled. At 88 minutes it is a short film, it is in a subtle black and white, there are no fancy effects, one scene follows another with a brief blank screen between, and yet the film grips from beginning to end. The ensemble performances are strong, the two leads are magnificent and the sense of place and period are perfect. What is extraordinary is the way in which the film creates a potent reminder of the ways in which the human spirit and love can survive the worst that a totalitarian state can inflict on its people. In our time, while far right politics rears its ugly head, there is also a timely warning in this extraordinary achievement in European cinema.