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"Once upon a time, far away from here, there was a cute Old lady, very very fond of animals...." Spoor is a cruel tale of our days in which there is no lack of Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf (both in disguise) and many hunters; but the originality is that the role of all of them is in reverse. We have such a beautiful ending that is not real. In this story we are shown the utmost consequences of two extremes radically opposed; we are shown on the one hand the excessive love for hunting and abuse of animals and on the other hand what can be the most extreme extent in the defense of animals, namely: some men kill animals and those who are against all that and oppose, can even kill men. Spoor is a Tale for people of today and culturally affecting many countries traditions, and above all with many aspects to think seriously about.

This is Poland's entry to the Academy Awards and it was not chosen among the five nominees. An old woman living alone in a farmhouse goes on a mission to stop the areas hunters from killing the wildlife. The culture is one with a long tradition of hunting the deer, wild boar, and especially foxes for their furs. They are skinned alive for their pelts, and it is quite vicious. The woman reports a series of murders of the hunters, and she becomes a pain in the ass to the police with her theories based on astrological charts of the local population. The ending is not what I expected, and this is a really strange movie.

East Europe's quality display in all of its glory. Detail view of the nature is superbly put together. Directors from this part of the world have class and taste.

Storyline tempo was too jerky switching from the opening to the conclusions. The events of revelations seemed to lost its tempo. And the detail of character within is blurred from one unto another. Like a car chase with the same type of car with the same type of color. You cannot grasp who is chasing who...

But overall this movie have landed an arrow in my heart like a cupid of destiny. Bravo

Started really well, building up characters was and connecting them to the story was excellent effort, but... it had those long stretches of "animal right preaching" (which I totally understand) taking away attention. From 4 people watching it, we had two asleep! I am not sure if this was a good movie or not, but I know that the team making it was excellent and professional. I wish the result was more like that!

One of Agneiszka Holland's best films, "Spoor" is a kind of ecological thriller-cum-message picture, magnificently shot by Jolanta Dylewska abd Rafal Paradowski in the Kotlina Klodzka region of Poland. Agnieszka Mandat is superb as the middle-aged teacher with a passion for animals and at loggerheads with her neighbours, hunters all; then her neighbours start turning up dead... It's certainly an unusual story, one might even say far-fetched and its ecological message is laid on a bit thick at times but Holland still manages to get considerable mileage out of it making spectacular use of her locations and giving the animals their dues. Perhaps the best thing about the film is that, while its message is clear from the start, it's never pedantic or over-stated and finally it's as a good old-fashioned whodunnit that it really works, helped no end by a superb score from Antoni Lazarkiewicz. Seek this one out.

This film wasn't what I expected. It is a dramatic movie with a mystery tangled into it.

I'll start with the good things. This film has great nature scenes that have been nicely caught on the camera. It is, at heart, about the killing and poaching animals and how people are blind to the senselessness of their actions, failing to see that animals are living creatures. The plot of the movie was a bit shaky for me but I was reading subtitles and they don't always have the movie being translated as intended. The acting was just ok.

The bad things. This movie is much longer than it should be. There were times where I was losing interest because it was moving along so slow. I didn't feel that the character builds came across well and some of the side stories were presented in odd ways. I had expected this to be far more suspenseful than it was.

If you are looking for a drama about animal rights you may enjoy this.

I love a good murder mystery film, I only wish that Spoor was a good murder mystery film. It is a clumsily-constructed narrative that basically requires all the police to be morons, as they voluntarily ignore what should be obvious. It focuses on an eccentric old woman who is an avid nature lover that obsesses over the well-being of all animals. Living where she does in Poland, she is surrounded by a society of people who greatly value hunting, and that puts her at odds with almost everyone. She also forms some loose friendships with the outsiders in town, but this is primarily the story of her journey, and how she keeps discovering the bodies of dead hunters. I will say no more about the string of murders because there is a chance you might be surprised at what is happening, but it seemed fairly obvious to me.

Now it's not impossible to enjoy a mystery when I figure it out early, if the journey is still worthwhile. Spoor has a laborious pace that is off-putting. I was struggling with the tedious pace, and how long we would go without progressing the plot. It was almost like the murders weren't being treated as something to worry about at all. There was never a sense of urgency, and the scenes with police never felt like they were investigating much more than a purse snatching. The sub-plots about the hooker with a heart of gold, and the nerdy programmer were given as much weight by the film-makers. It is such an odd film that did little for me. There's also one moment at the end that I found laughably stupid, and I could not comprehend why they thought it made sense. There are elements of Spoor that are worth watching. It helped that I had constant hope I would be wrong about whodunnit, but I certainly can't see myself recommending it to anyone else.

SPOOR (Pokot) was a Competition film at the2017 Berlin film festival. My festival day started with a trip to West Berlin to see this Polish competition entry at the lavish ZOO Palace theater, the most luxurious movie house on Earth at this moment. Agnieszka Holland's SPOOR, (Polish, Czech, Slovak co prod) takes place in a village in Southern Poland near the Czech border. It was (for a change) a very good competition film after a string of losers, with an unusually strong performance by Agnieszka Mandat (64) as Duszejko, the older woman who lives alone with her beloved two dogs, Whitey and Leila. When they disappear mysteriously she sets out on a crusade to stop the murder of animals in this wildlife rich region. The heavy in the film is the local priest..During a church sermon where he is basically defending the right to kill animals on religious grounds she gets up and berates the assembled congregation with the words "How can you listen to this bullshit!" and storms out. A film that Brigitte Bardot will love as will all animal lovers everywhere. Agnieszka Mandat could be a strong contender for an actress Bär in a Berlin competition slate rich with strong feminine roles. Another strong entry in polish director Agnieszka Holland's extremely varied filmography. Ms. Holland, now 68, began her career in Poland as an assistant to Andrzej Wajda then left Poland to flee Communusm and made many landmark in English with top international stars. Holland is arguably the outstanding woman director active in the world today.

Seen at the Berlinale 2017. Though it was marked "out of competition" for the Golden Bear, it deservedly got the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize anyway. Lead protagonist Janina is retired but still teaches English at a local school. Her pupils admire her, contrary to the school board who is less happy. She is a convinced vegetarian and frowns on hunting, which is the favorite sport of nearly all local villagers. Apart from her continuous struggle against needless hunting, there are also crime thriller elements involved when people are found dead from time to time without any tracks or other useful clues to help the police.

The movie is structured in chapters following the hunting calendar, something we see Janina stealing from the police office. She has frequent contacts there to file complaints over violations of same calendar. It is useless as the police does nothing about it, understandable with high placed policemen who are heavily involved in hunting themselves. Janina is persistent in her struggle for animal welfare, but her complaints are ignored. Her evenso persistent inclination to involve astrology in everything, hampers her believability and is often an excuse to send her away. And being an independent and retired woman (some think: useless) does not help either.

This movie is apparently about corruption, a popular theme in movies in former communist countries. It is a broader theme than only lust for money or a high position. Self-serving bureaucrats or bending rules for egoistic reasons, are also forms of corruption, maybe weaker variants but still. Clearly, the authorities (mainly the police) does not care much about enforcing rules around hunting, being heavily involved in hunting themselves, just like everyone in the elite. This includes the priest, who explains in one of his sermons how useful hunting actually is, actually a divine right given to humans. But Janina is not guiltless herself either, when she organizes a class "excursion" (that is what she calls it when a school administrator has comments) to find her missing dogs. It took place in the dark and within a forest, that is why her superiors are not amused. It may be a weaker form of corruption, I admit it, but still deviating from the rules and putting children unnecessarily at risk to serve her own private interests.

Director Agnieszka Holland won the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for "opening new perspectives", awarded by the Berlinale 2017 International Jury. I'm at a loss what those "new perspectives" can be, maybe the fact that we are watching a whodunit thriller without noticing it along the way, that is until the nasty truth hits us near the finale. However, don't construe my being lost that I'm against this reward. The compelling story line throughout a bit over 2 hours, as well as how the lead performer carries the story, deserve a reward, whatever its earmark.

Well we all understand u want to give a message to save our animal, they are nature creature !! but you could spend those money ( movie budget ) to feed some hungry animal,either you can funding the money to some animal saving organization,but u make some crap !! where animal took revenge, well in that case industrial criminal would die first for killing our nature !

As an animal activist I should say that this review is a bit biased... nevertheless I think this movie is worth a watch since its beautiful sorroundings and story of love of nature are most endearing.

Thus, if you're interested in a story of someone who suffers from the consequences of corruption and takes justice into their own hands you won't be disappointed. I dare say that, when you finish watching, you'll feel content and fullfiled since the movie's focus - fighting what's bad in society - is overall achieved (I wouldn't put it as a revenge story, more as a cleaning the dirt tale).

Olga Tokarczuk's "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" is a remarkable, wise, humorous, and very finely layered novel. Unfortunately all of the subtlety of its characters, all of their lovable quirks, all the rhythm, and funnily enough, almost all of the spectacularity of nature and seasons is lost in the film. So why watch it?

Fancy a murder mystery wrapped way too tightly inside a feminist rant against hunting, with sideways deviations into astrology and fundamentalist rural Catholic perspectives? Then perhaps Polish director Agnieszka Holland's Spoor is just the vehicle for you. However I believe most viewers of this exceedingly odd movie, are unlikely to die wondering why it failed to gain entry to the Foreign Films category of the 2017 Academy Awards. Much as it looks quite attractive in sections, it is a film completely devoid of any sort of suspense, with a creaky, unfocused, disengaging plot, guaranteed to frustrate cinephiles, eager to appreciate a worthwhile narrative.

The storyline follows part - time teacher and full - time eco - warrior Duszejko, as a search for her beloved missing dogs, finds her becoming increasingly enmeshed in a hunt for a serial - killer, whilst at the same time spurring her to rail against the endemic hunting culture of her remote mountainous village near the Czech border and the faintly bizarre local religious practices encouraged by the coldly impersonal parish priest.

The story fails to flow and crucially the murders themselves are treated as rather minor affairs. Duszeiko herself is drawn as an eccentrically, whiney harpy; one who seems entirely deserving of the blasts she cops from the school's principal, for maverick actions involving her class. With one or two minor exceptions, all the males in the story are drawn boringly stereotypically, as bloodthirsty hunters. In the case of the police, they are seen as stumbling, bumbling, dunderheads, dismissing her worrying observations, as the crackpot theories of a crazy old woman. (Considering the amount of time and exposition, the film devotes to Duszeiko's astrological ramblings, I'd suggest they were only half - wrong.)

The irony in all this, is that the film's underlying premise concerning man's inhumanity towards animals is certainly worthy of a cinematic critique. But one, more interesting and nuanced than what we are delivered here in this torpid, glacially - paced whodunit, whose climax, offers us little in the way of surprises, or plot twists.

A great movie about a a strong yet gentle character who cannot accept people being cruel to animals or each other. She helps kids and mistreated women apart from her passion: wild life. She gets to know people in depth because she is open to them- never mind how she does it, the key words here are she does! The photography is exceptional too. Great acting! A refreshing movie for those of us who have been watching too many made-up/always-looking-perfect actors in Hollywood movies.

This is a well made film with good acting. Unfortunately the astrological nonsense subverted the suspension of disbelief to the point that it was turned off about 40% of the way through. I am admittedly picky about such things but be warned: if you find astrology and people who believe in astrology annoying and irritating, this film will probably not be to your liking. Five stars for production quality and acting.

A fascinating film and offers a glimpse into post communist Polish society. I don't know much about Poland, I'm an American who has never visited Poland,, but from all that I've read and glean from the last 20 years , the corruption in communism didn't just disappear overnight with a change in government. It seems to be a problem for many Eastern European post communist countries. Highlighted here is not just the indifference and corruption of the police and the political establish meant , but also the horrible way in which wildlife is treated , but also, as a geriatrician, I think discrimination against elderly people is subtle and pronounced, not just in Eastern European countries, but also in the West. The brilliant acting shows the subtle ways in which the concerns of an elderly teacher are ignored, and even ridiculed. As to the anti-hunting bias, I'm not anti-hunting, in fact, hunters in the United States, are often strong conservationists, but I just think you did don't need to kill animals in order to enjoy nature. I used to have when I was young, long ago switched to wildlife photography.

I was not expecting much from this movie, in spite of knowing and liking the director's previous work. But I was completely drawn in to it, warming up slowly until totally engrossed.

Intially it was extremely difficult to see the brutal depictions of death and torture of animals but as it was the driving theme of the movie I stayed with it, and the reward was worth it. The ominous and deadly sounds of gunfire percolating the soundtrack added to the suspense and disgust, along with the chapter headings as the movie progresses.

One gets inexorably drawn into this "crazy woman's" life as she draws her neighbors into it too. Turns out she's one of the few sane people in a village of hunters and poachers, who slaughter wildlife indiscriminately and abuse women as a matter of course. A few exchanges with the village priest only serve to highlight the spirit-less and twisted views of man's dominion over nature, as interpreted from the Bible.

The acting overall is excellent, the cinematography and director's pacing is wonderful. The story unfolds organically and deliberately and we get to know the characters as the protagonist discovers them, as we do in life itself. The lead actress delivers a tour de force performance, without which the movie would suffer.

My one quibble is the very end, a little too pat and easy, marring the otherwise wholly believable story and delightfully satisfying revelations of this murder mystery. But in a way this story is also a fairy tale and as such, why not believe in a magical end? As with our ongoing destruction of the planet, if we move into our higher nature and capacities, our course can change. Believe, and then, as our heroine does, take action!

Almost similar to a story of redemption, the "Lone" wolf must set out on a journey to achieve their purpose. Good one! recomended!