Kamienie na szaniec

This is based on a true episode during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw in WWII and is from a novel of the same title. The 'Szare Szeregi' or Gray Ranks of 'The Scouts' as they were known fought with the Home Army and got involved with low key sabotage against the invaders to fight for their country. As the iron fist of the Nazis came down ever harder, the young men decided that pamphlets and flags were not enough and so decided to take up the inevitable armed struggle.

This tells of a particular operation in which they set about to free a captured comrade who has been taken by the Germans. Now there are scenes here of torture and up front and personal violence. At one point in the film they say 'let the living never lose hope' and that is a perfect phrase to sum up why they fought against impossible odds with a random set of weapons and minimum training.

This is a very well made and acted film, it is also genuinely moving in places. Just ignore the cover art on this as ever it is misleading. The makeup is totally excellent and the period detail is spot on too. The original title is 'Kamienie na szaniec' or 'Stones for the rampart' in reference to them having to be as stones in their defence of their homes. This is as I said a great film and I hope a fitting tribute to these brave young men and indeed women who did the right thing in those dark days of history.

This is not your typical war film. Stones for the Rampart shows us what the price of going to war, in any context, really means.

Whilst old men do the talking, as we are shown, its the young and innocent, who do the dying. They don't always die well, either. If indeed, there is such a thing.

Scenes of death and torture of young WWII Polish resistance fighters in this film, are not an easy watch. The underlying message is a valuable one, nonetheless.

I'm not sure this could be called an anti war film. The cause of Polish patriotism is still promoted. That said, there's enough here to make it plain war is not glorious, nor is it conspicuous.

Whether people die bravely or just die, they are swiftly replaced. Little more than stones in a defensive wall. Nameless and ultimately forgotten by all, except those few who knew them.

Acting is excellent. For a young cast all those involved are to be commended.

In short, a sad, sobering watch, that is not easily forgotten. Nor should it be.

9/10.

This 2014 movie is a certain remake of older 1978's Polish film Akcja pod Arsenalem (Operation Arsenal) which tells the tragic and heroic story of Polish militia partisan group Gray Ranks (Szaere Szeregi). Here, there's more money, more modern sound, more visual treat, and suddenly less result. The movie suffers from lengthy time, slower pace, somewhat bland development, trite clichés and totally unnecessary prolonged love and violence scenes. Actors try their best but they often fail to deliver and convince us, more often we're left indifferent and unreached. There are awfully poor moments, too, like the woods chase scene, or the very end before credits roll. I do not even start to enumerate blatant goofs considering real facts or distortions of history. This film can be watched and then it will fade into insignificance as a weaker attempt losing the ground to a more powerful old version

A betrayal of the real story as told in the book - simply a poorly made film, not only does it fail to craft characters well or tell a compelling story (unbelievably so given the rich source material), it rapidly descends into gratuitous, laughably over-the-top torture-porn that seems to want to whip up a sense of aggrievedness and instill a worldview of fetishized, exalted victimhood in Polish viewers. Mostly though, it's just exceedingly boring. An atrocious piece of work that's a slap in the face for the real Warsaw Uprising heroes.

Great acting, magnificent filming and meticulous attention to period detail. A very worthy account of resistance in occupied Poland. Quite how other reviewers found this boring is perplexing. It's really well paced, and an engrossing watch.