Bogowie

I came across this under-the-radar film today, read the only review already on IMDb, heard from a Polish friend that it was quite good and couldn't really find anything else on it before going to see it.

I was expecting it to be good, but it turned out to be possibly the most enjoyable film I've seen all year (I see at least 30-40 new releases each year, and with a reasonable degree of research before watching, almost never see a terrible film - the only awful film I've seen in a theatre in the last two years is The Counselor where I didn't research the film and went in because of the cast - never again!).

A biopic made in a typical European style - understated drama, lots of subtle as well as some black humour and emotional depth. Riveting from start to finish, it is the story of the man who pioneered the first heart transplant in Poland after wading through the obstacles thrown at him by a sceptical medical fraternity and lumbering bureaucracy (he later went on to become a prominent politician though the film focuses purely on the events leading up to the event that made him famous in Poland).

Tomasz Kot is brilliant playing Religa, and the entire supporting cast are very good. There is a reasonable amount of medical jargon used (I was following English subtitles) which worked for me as a fan of medical dramas.

The depiction of Poland and life there in the 80s is very well done - there are subtle homages to the period setting (through the soundtrack for example) but you never get the feeling the director is getting carried away with the setting and the events of the story remain the main focus.

Technically the film is very well shot and edited (some of the surgery scenes are fascinating in their detail) and the script is excellent. Highly recommended!

Great biopic. It shows to achieve great things in life one has to be dedicated and crazy also it shows that you must never tired of trying again and again if you really want to achieve some thing in life. Great movie.

I did not expect much from the movie and only decided to watch it out of respect to Zbigniew Religa. The only drawback is footage from real surgeries on open heart, and this may be too graphic for some viewers to stomach. The viewer will find it hard to observe the action from the back seat as the whole plot evolves like Bolero by Ravel.

It starts rather slow, in casual manner, just to turn up a notch every once a while. The production crew faced quite a challenge since most viewers knew what happened in real life, and what the final outcome was. In this respect the challenge was met with a great performance, especially by the main character. Just like in Bolero the movie ends with a high note, leaving the audience in awe.

Maverick, mercurial young heart surgeon, recently returned from the US to Poland, takes on the conservative local medical hierarchy, as well as Communist bureaucracy, in his driving ambition to put Poland, patients,and himself in the forefront of world cardiology. With the film based on a true story, he challenges conventional thinking, inspires a renegade young team and strives to overcome obstructions and reverses, while struggling with his own demons in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Set around 1985, the subdued, but not dull, colour palette reflects the late Communist era, with tight, fast-moving editing, as well as framing. Sub-titled, sometimes in slightly questionable English, the script swings between narrative, tragedy and some comedy, with echoes of the Stephen Hawking Theory of Everything. Acting is of a satisfying standard, although some of the supporting parts are thinly characterised. The viewer must survive a good deal of gory surgery, which is more than can be said of some of the patients. Recommended.

The music is very good, the male actors are also very vivid, but the decadence of frustration is a little worse. There are still many unsolved problems in human life. This road needs understanding and courage.