Veejay20 Visually, the film is very spectacular, and every now and then it fades to black and white to give it that "WWI" newsreel footage type feel which is well done. What makes it compelling is seeing "inter war" battles with the early T17 tanks, cavalry, Russian tachankas, etc. And the various uniforms of the Cossacks, Russians, and French-armed Poles are well done. There is a lot of attention to detail here, and it is worth watching the movie for this alone, as it is a rarely touched upon period in film making. The masses of people on screen really make this stunning to watch, and the atmosphere is very well done.Unfortunately, the story line lets the movie down. The protagonist doesn't really seem to do anything. He marries the love interest at the start, so there is nothing to develop here. He goes off to war and takes part in battles, but only as a participant, he does nothing heroic. The only development seems to be that there is a change in his political leanings, which is not that compelling a subject.There is no one single "bad guy" to draw us in either. There are a couple of characters, one a cruel cheka operative, and the other on older Polish officer interested in the protagonists wife. However, neither seem sufficiently menacing, nor given enough screen time. Another is the background presence of Stalin, but this is not really developed either. In the end, the protagonist gets wounded by an unknown Russian soldier, rather than an existing character. There are no climactic showdowns here. By splitting the "bad guy" into so many smaller roles, the story telling falls very flat.A second story line was the high level political one, with leaders of both sides being shown at different times. However, this is very under developed, and some of it does not make sense. There was scene where the Polish leader Pilsudski was accused of being a traitor by some other Polish political leaders, but it didn't seem to fit in to anything else, nor explained, nor developed. Then there are references to the Ukrainian leader Petliura fighting against the Russians at the start of the movie, but this goes nowhere as well.And after such an emphatic victory against seemingly impossible odds, I would have thought that there would be scenes of relief and celebration at the end. But this never happened either.I suspect that movie is just trying to do too much, by showing a vast array of different types of characters so as to give an overview of life at the time. But in the process, it loses out on story telling. However, it is worth seeing, if only for the grand scale and atmosphere of the visuals, during the much neglected "inter war" period.

DetroitAMA I just learned of this movie through some Polish-American newspaper for the Detroit area. I loved "With Fire and Sword" and from the looks of the trailer, that one should be even better. I can understand the previous review feeling the film is lackluster, as I have felt the same about many movies on the American Civil War, and I am a big US history fanatic and also do CW reenacting as a hobby, with which I have participated as an extra in many films and documentaries.This part of history (Europe between WWI and WWII) is pretty much ignored by history buffs in the US. A few of us in the Detroit area take a lot of interest in this particular historical segment, as not only are there many Polish-Americans in the region, but Detroit had sent a large contingent of its young men to fight the Bolsheviks at that time in and around Archangel. They were known as the Polar Bear Division, and are still remembered by some of us here.As the film has been "officially" out for a few months now, I am wondering if it has made it to the US yet. I see no website dedicated to the film, and internet searches only pull up YouTube trailers. I can only hope that it gets some due recognition here.

thebodzio 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 :(

wolandscat My starting point for this film was no knowledge of this famous battle (and I imagine a good many people from outside central/eastern Europe know little about it either), which made this film a real cultural education.If films were like singing, this film would be a rowdy pub singalong rather than a finely nuanced choral mass, but by the end of it, I didn't mind one bit. There are a few functions it should fulfill: to tell the amazing story of this battle (I had to educate myself afterward, and it really is an amazing episode) as well as to say something about Poland's place in the world, and explain something about Polish mentality, particularly with respect to Russia. It more or less succeeds on all fronts, even while lurching from almost slapstick comedy (a beloved art form in Eastern European film) to the horrors of war to the important military strategising scenes.The nightclub scenes are really well done, with some great stage numbers, which although incidental to the main story, lend authenticity. The two leads - one a soldier, one the night club star singer are warm characters, and the rest of the cast are good too. The war scenes are not only visceral and realistic, but historically fascinating. At the point in time of this battle, the old technologies of canon and horse were competing with machine guns and armoured cars. But in 1920, machine guns often jammed (the downside), but were becoming lighter and nearly portable (the upside), while armoured cars were not much more than a T-model Ford covered in steel sheets, undoubtedly with limited range and speed. This meant that no single technology was decisive: in the end, a Polish cavalry charge is what sends the Bolsheviks fleeing, even though they had greater numbers and more 'new' technology.Some scenes are set in the halls of the Kremlin and involve the conversations of Lenin, Stalin, and others as they plan the attack, justified by what seems today an absurd concept of a pan-European (and then global) socialist nirvana. It's hard to believe anyone could even think in such abstract terms, with a complete disregard for real human lives and indeed entire countries and cultures, but we know of course that it was only too real.It would have been easy for this film to be a breast-beating Polish nationalist pride statement, but it absolutely avoids that stance, and in doing so I suspect would make many Polish people proud of what their forebears achieved in this battle, and how they are perceived today. For me, with little knowledge of Polish culture, it was a real eye-opener into issues such as the historical antipathy for Russia, and the insecurity of even being Polish during a century of invasion. The Polish general Jozef Pilsudski is portrayed as a real person, rather than a heroic personification of his erstwhile legend, and in doing so, allows us to reconstruct the legend for ourselves.One complaint: the 3D is terrible (I didn't realise it was 3D until too late). I really hate 3D, and I found it terribly disturbing when trying to focus, particularly on battle scene long shots. Let's give this 3D mania up now before too much money is spent on it - it adds nothing, and detracts from the great cinematography.I recommend anyone who doesn't know much about Poland to go and see this film - you will learn a lot. And anyone who likes cinema with real heart and soul should see it as well. As for Polish people reading this, all I can say is that I am glad to see such an important episode in your history finally on the big screen.