Der Tod im Kreis

Set in modern day Cracow (as hight-lighted by countless overhead shots of the iconic Polish city), "Uwiklanie" is a Polish crime thriller, which immediately reminded me of the old television features based on Agatha Christie novels. It should come to no surprise that it was actually based on a story by local crime novelist Zygmunt Miloszewski. But unlike in a English crime drama, the movie slowly detaches itself from the procedural and delves into a political thriller rife with Communist-era underpinnings.

In a suburban villa a group of individuals undergo a group therapy with famed psychologist Antoni Szacki (Piotr Adamczyk). After one session, a visibly disturbed and ruffled Henryk Telak (Krzysztof Globisz) storms out, thus prematurely ending the evening's work. The next morning Telak is found dead, murdered with a rake through the eyeball. All of the participants become prime suspects, however when newly appointed state prosecutor Agata (Maja Ostaszewska) and her former boyfriend, now police-officer Slawomir Smolar (Marek Bukowski) start investigating, the implications of the case start to far exceed a simple murder. The whole case is further complicated when local businessman (Andrzej Seweryn) shows a keen interest in its resolution.

Fronted by the two terrible leads of Ostaszewska (whose primary goal seemed to centred around looking good in high-heels) and Bukowski, whose acting ranges should explicitly eliminate them from any further lead roles and an outdated directorial approach of Jacek Bromski, the saving grace comes from the story itself, which is well research from a psychological standpoint and meticulously built. The overall feature falters making it seem like a slight escapade more suited for television as a low-key Friday night feature, than cinemas, while the obsessive focus on the communist security services can just be distracting overall. Most likely the truth has been burned whilst the Iron Curtain was toppling, but dwelling on the past in such an incessant fashion seems like crying over spilt milk. As a pure crime thriller nonetheless this is a workable, and even enjoyable, feature.

Unfortunately Polish crime films should be considered a separate genre. Most of them have 4 things in common: -lots of meaningless swearing (famous Polish k-word used multiple times by many characters) - some meaningless nudity, sex scenes out of the blue between characters theoretically not attracted to each other -invoking old days of communism with its secret militia allegedly still having influence on Polish reality 20 years after collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. -they are rather tiring than entertaining "Uwiklanie" is no different in all these aspects. Comparing any B class American crime/action film, I usually need to watch it twice to notice how stupid it is, and even though it's stupid, it's still enjoyable. Polish film "Uwiklanie" was unbearable immediately the first time I watched it. As long as Polish filmmakers will keep trying to mimic Hollywood instead of coming up with original ideas we will have to suffer watching more films hoping that one day good one will show up.

Usually in films of this genre the mysteries are revealed just before the end of the film. Here throughout the film there are mysteries revealed at various times, often unexpectedly. In some cases we think a mystery has been already cleared - but then later a different explanation comes up. This has been done in films before, but then an earlier as well a later explanation have to be plausible; creators of the film have succeeded also in this respect.

The actors are wonderful. Maja Ostaszewska as Agata has a very difficult role - and she is convincing in all situations and at all times. Marek Bukowski as Slawek is very good too, as is Danuta Stenka, the same applies of course to Andrzej Seweryn - almost to them all.

A previous reviewer questions why a prosecutor gets involved in the crime investigation from the start - instead of the usual waiting for the police to provide enough evidence to charge somebody with the crime. However, here Agata has several strong motives to get involved early: the fact that this is her first criminal case after working in the white collar economic crime office; baffling circumstances of the case; the fact that she is the daughter of a law professor; and the fact that her law school classmate Slawek is the police inspector in charge of the case.

a great polish movie shot in a beautiful city. the murder mystery was well written and developed with several threads involved all the persons who related to the murder case, the detective, the prosecutor. there were sidelines telling the histories between the investigation members. as seems to be the stereo type of all detectives in any country, the detective in this movie also quite handsome, tall, and a lonely person. the prosecutor also, a demanding, strong willed female in the legal system, tough to deal with, with a long forgotten romance with hatred and regret. the screenplay was very nicely and expertly written with some special knowledge in psychology, pyschiatry and police procedure. the dialog is very well written and there were some great thoughts among them. we also saw in this movie that this country's people of different generations, ages and genders are facing the changing world with contempt, helplessness. the old system seems still allow people smoking in the offices, the computers in the police station are mixed with newer and older monitors. there were things that would make think one step further about lot of things around you.

there's only one thing that didn't quite convince me: the involvement of a prosecutor to conduct a murder investigation, meddling the case in the very beginning is not a typical legal system procedure. usually, the prosecutor would request the police to report their investigation process and be ready to prosecute, once they find a prime suspect. but this movie is different, the prosecutor was personally doing a lot of investigations from the very beginning by herself, but those actions should be done by the police in the first place.

anyway, this is a beautifully shot, directed, edited and performed movie. quite worth watching.