Product: Pan Tadeusz (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Fantastic Adaptation of the Book
This is one of the best film adaptations of a work of Polish literature I've seen. It really brings the book to life. The movie is beautifully filmed, with plenty of picturesque scenes of the countryside. The casting was perfect, and the acting was fantastic. Everyone was exactly the way I envisioned them in the book. I particularly enjoyed Boguslaw Linda as the monk Robak. He really captured the character of a monk/soldier trying to reconcile two feuding families while fostering a grass roots uprising against the Russians. The movie also paid attention to the little details that make the book so charming, such as the grandfather clock that plays Dabrowski's Mazurka and Robak's snuff box with the portrait of Kosciusko.I also thought the movie did an unusually good job of conveying the spirit of the work. Mickiewicz wrote Pan Tadeusz as an exile in Paris, and the work was meant to be a consoling and idealized account of his lost country. To that end, the movie begins with Mickiewicz and his fellow ex-pats in a dreary room in Paris. Mickiewicz, speaking lines drawn from the epilogue of Pan Tadeusz, begins to entertain his friends by narrating the story. The movie ends back in Paris, with Mickiewicz delivering the famous opening verse, "Litwo, ojczyzno moja...," which was quite poignant. Mickiewicz narrates throughout, which gives the movie that fairy-tale like feeling the book has. I thought it was wonderfully done.The script is drawn from the text of the poem, and it's a real pleasure to hear Mickiewicz's beautiful language spoken aloud. Linda in particular does an excellent job of delivering lines in rhymed couplets in such a way as to bring out the poetry while being utterly convincing as speech. The scenes that stand out in my mind are when Robak takes leave of the judge ("Kto wie, czy wroce zywy! kto wie, co sie stanie / W Dobrzynie! Bracie! wielkie, wielkie zamieszanie! / Ten wariat Hrabia! slysze, pobiegl do Dobrzyna, / Nie moglem go uprzedzic, wazna w typ przyczyna: / stary Maciek mnie poznal...") and Robak's final scene with Gerwazy ("Ja skarzyc nie mam prawa, ja jego morderca / Ja skarzyc nie mam prawa, przebaczam mu z serca / Ale i on..."). The lines are delivered in an unaffected manner, full of emotion, and with an absolute awareness of the beauty of the language.The humor of the book also comes through, particularly in the character of the Count, who, being so steeped in Romanticism, is completely divorced from reality. I love his scenes with Gerwazy, particularly the one in which Gerwazy is planning the foray against the Soplicas while the Count comments on how such a Gothic-Sarmatian plan appeals to his imagination, and inquires whether the castle for which they're fighting has any dungeons.This movie was clearly made by people who love the book. For those who loved the book, you'll love the movie. Those who haven't read the book should still see the movie, which is visually spectacular and tells an engaging story.