a trial under martial law
We might call Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Bez konca" ("No End" in English) a Polish predecessor to "Ghost", but that doesn't do it justice. This movie emphasizes the woman and how she tries to take up her late husband's task under difficult circumstances. Set in 1982, when Poland was under martial law and the Soviet-backed government was persecuting the Solidarity labor movement, it focuses on Urszula Zyro (Grazyna Szapolowska). Her lawyer husband Antek dies and she has to find a replacement for him in a case. But his spirit remains to watch over her and their son.This was a bold movie for its time. I don't know whether or not Poland had eased up on its persecution of Solidarity by the time that it got released (it was a sad irony that in the 21st century, long rid of Soviet domination, Poland assisted in the extraordinary rendition program). I suspect that this was one of the first Polish movies to feature a sex scene, if not the very first (by contrast, the first Soviet movie to feature a sex scene was 1988's "Little Vera"). Whatever the case, it remains an important piece of cinema history, and reminds us why Kieslowski was one of Europe's most influential directors.
score 10/10
lee_eisenberg 6 January 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4024846/35549
Pages:
[1]