Reviews

Where do I even begin? An unimaginative, boring, outright bad story. And the way in which it is told is even worse still. Tortilla-flat, unrelatable characters uttering grotesquely stupid lines. Events do not logically follow from each other in an endless festival of "it happened because we arbitrarily wanted it to". It would be seriously lacking even if it was a cut-scene not a full-blown series. I can't even imagine how this atrocity of a pseudo-tale can be fun. It appears as if was haphazardly pieced together from a heap of disjoint ideas made by a committee, to bear a distant semblance to a coherent story. I do not expect every sci-fi show to be a deep reflection on the past, present or future, but this thing is about just as deep as water in the toilet. Fans are rightly annoyed, while those who do not know the lore, won't learn it from this series. We could get at least an interesting picture, but instead we were presented with an ugly caricature.

Like most contemporary movies this one tells a story. Sadly it doesn't know itself what the story is about and what is the point.

If you want to learn about the whole Panama Papers affair, you can skip this movie entirely. It is quite chaotic piece of journalistic self-congratulation and hubris. It fails to touch on the deeper issues and the real meaning of the Panama Papers, being content with simplistic and superficial Robin-Hoodian view of the matter, occasionally trying to smear some dirt on "designated bad public persons". It doesn't spare its viewer an annoying dose of artificial pathos as well as an unwarranted and non credible story of heroism (possibly with one or two exceptions). All of that in a boring form, full of exaggeration and repetitiveness, from time to time bordering with propaganda. The biggest question after seing this movie is: how full of oneself can one be?

Boring, unimaginative, loaded with anti-christian stereotypes, obligatorily PC and top coated with obscenity here and there.

I don't mind the low budget movies. What I do mind is bad stories and bad storytelling.

Cold hearted and inhuman Americans, compassionate and decent Soviets? It's not just a bad movie, it's a propaganda piece. Such amount of hatred for the healthy society can come only from a spiteful, little man.

How come, every time I wait for a good polish movie about some episode from Poland's history, I end up being seriously disappointed? Every time. With this movie being notable confirmation of this rule.

Battle of Warsaw. One of the most important events in Europe's or maybe even world's history. A tragic struggle, held on the very extremes of hope, justly called by some "Miracle at the Vistula", won by a thread against all odds. One would think such event would deserve an epic piece of cinematographic art. I thought so too. A movie was made at last. Why I'm not happy? First thing I despise is the lack of focus. Not the optical one – I despise the lack of focus of the story itself. It seems like creators of the picture wanted to show all of the battle breadth and depth, on every possible level: human, psychological, social, national, strategic and tactical. Guess what? It didn't work. It couldn't work. If one wants to emphasize everything, one emphasize nothing. If one wants to show everything at once, one shows nothing. All the potential of this movie was dissolved in different side-plots and micro-episodes, in the end loosing its proper load. This thin solution is spiced up with some cliché, overdone pathos and stupid, contemporary jokes. Humor in the movie lacks the feeling of a "safety valve" for troubled mind. It lacks a hint of underlying sadness, so specific for polish sense of humor in trying times. Generally it's just artificial and thoughtless.

Now a little bit about the story itself (don't worry no spoilers here). To me storyline holds striking resemblance to a bulleted list. Such lists are quite popular in polish schools as a means of putting down most important motives in analyzed literature works. They're also common in cheat-sheets. So it is in the case of this movie. Love motif? Checked! Social view? Checked! Great battle? Check! Enemy's view? Checked! The list goes on. A series of unconnected fragments. The problem is – the movie is contiguous as a story telling mean. Good movies are able to glue seamlessly all bits and pieces of single scenes into one logical, contiguous tale. "Bitwa..." in many places changes topics without warning and reason leaving many things inelegantly untold.

Next thing: photography. Sławomir Idziak is mentioned as director of photography. I say: no way! Take "Gattaca" or "Black Hawk Down". There is no way the same man was responsible for shooting them. There are some (technically) nice takes but they're mostly just copies of "BHD" style of filming. I liked them but yet hoped for something specific to this movie, something more innovative, not just another visual "same ol' thing". And about 3D... More and more often I think of 3D as a hype helper in the way: "We can't make it worthy – let's at least make it 3D". I don't oppose new techniques – they're interesting and have indifferently a potential – but I oppose using new techniques whether it makes sense or not. In this case – I'm not impressed, sorry...

And where does it leave me? I'm still waiting... hoping... and pray my wait is not in vain. In the meantime: 3 stars out of pity :(

Ever heard Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" finale? This movie brought me the exact thing that mentioned musical piece did: complete absolution. It's cleansing. It makes you a better man.

It's a pity that guidelines forbid one to end review in this place because I believe writing more is unnecessary if not harmful. But since I'm compelled to do so I'll do it.

I don't want to say a word about plot, animation quality, music, dubbing etc. It's all unimportant in the face of what you'll be able to gain thanks to this movie.

All I wanted too see was another Studio Ghibli production. I wanted to mark it as "watched" and go for the next. That was until I was caught by it. Feelings and ideals I thought I've lost irrevocably along the way were all of a sudden alive again. I was bored, sour, with mind and heart heavy with day-by-day little troubles and daunting routines. Then I saw this movie. I can't even properly call this little things that changed me but frankly I don't even want to call them at all. Maybe all the "goodness" just soaked through the screen? Maybe through the speakers? Or maybe the other way? I don't know. I know that I'm on my way to be better.

I've noticed that a few people didn't like this movie. I don't intend to try to convince them to change their mind. Instead I want to wish them one thing. I want to wish them to find something in their lives that will be able to make them feel like I was right after watching "Kiki's Delivery Service". In fact: like I still feel :D.

And yes… that all writes a guy that's almost 30 ^_^. So what? :D

Sadly I must say it, but this movie, however very nicely made if it comes to technique, is badly disappointing meritoriously. I was glad to see commentary of George from Chicago, who raised this fact. Thank you George! I would even call this film dangerously provocative and false. Not of course about the event of Warsaw Getto Uprising, because acts of bravery shown by the Jewish fighters was rarely seen in the history of a mankind -- this is undoubtedly truth -- but about polish nation. I hope that this state of things is just caused by poor knowledge of script writer and not by his bad will or viciousness. I, as a Pole, feel painfully touched by the image of the polish society presented in mentioning picture. If I may I would have a little request for all the viewers of "Uprising": do not believe this movie easily. You don't have to believe me either. Just try to read some books treating about the subject of movie and see other movies as well. Surely they will lead you to the truth.

With my best regards