Les chevaliers teutoniques

Good acting. Great plot. This is a very sad movie, but it presents the true facts in history. It should be released on DVD. One of the best Polish movies. I recommend this movie to everyone.

Polish cinema is always good at adapting heroic war films like Potop or Ogniem I Mieczem. This one, based upon the book of the Noble Prize winner, Henryk Sienkiewycz, is a real hit. The directors managed to adapt this large and serious historical novel to a screen version. The plot tells about the wars between Poland and the Knights who were called the Crerss Bearers and lived in old Prussia nearby. The thrilling story tells about two brave and valiant Polish knights, Macko and Zbyszek. This story has everything - love story, tragedy of the Polish people being oppressed by the knights of Prussia, the heroic struggle, and on top of it all, the Grunwald Battle, that was the deafening defeat of the Prussian knights and lead to the changes in their history after that. Music, operators' work, actors' play, especially the parts of Henryk Borowski and Mieczyslaw Voit are impeccable. This is a fine example of the classic Polish battle movies.

The best historical movie ever set in Middle Ages. After 40 years it is still unbeatable. There is no single minute without action and no chance of getting bored. The film, based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, was seen by over 30 million Poles and is a must for historical movie fan. Many scenes hit a viewer with power and skill but nothing beats the battle of Grunwald sequence, which lasts almost 20 minutes. Every Hollywood film lacks such sequence. No detail is bit of absurd as it sometimes happens in American movies. Actors are at their peak, especially Andrzej Szalawski(Jurand) who plays his best role. Absolutely worth of seeing.

The movie is based on a Sienkiewicz's novel written in 1910 (500th anniversary of Tannenberg battle) and during the time of top German power in Europe. The content describes the life of medieval Polish gentry on the background of historical events (conflicts between the German Teutonic Orden and Kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania). Shows, how crude and cruel the life was that time. The movie has been made about 1960 on order of communist and para-nationalist propaganda to illustrate the role of alliance between Poles and "eastern nations" in stopping the German expansionism (a cold war ran that time, Poland had no diplomatic links with FR of Germany, which was putting Poland's western borders into questioning). The final Tannenberg battle scene is probably the best one battle movie in the history of cinematography. However, some propaganda accents have been put, i.e. German knights shooting "Heil!" at the beginning of the battle. The main tune of the film is to present Poles as a fit and sound nation.

It is a good film and - as some reviews pointed out - of quite a big importance (and sentimental value!) to Poles. As every nation, Poles delight in productions illuminating the splendor years or turning points in their history, so the film has a guaranteed place in the pantheon of Polish films. It is begging for a remake though. If it is to be equally enjoyable for younger generations technical anachronisms and especially lengthy scenes need to be taken care of. The plot is great, so it definitely deserves a lifting. Apart from the extraordinary number of horses and extras, and Guiness record long battle scenes the film is famous for 2 amazing goofs: 1. In one of the battles, far beyond the herd of knights, you can see a crew car happily passing on the horizon 2. During the main battle of Grunwald scene (1410!) an electric watch can be seen on the actor's wrist as the Polish king zestfully waves his sword fighting his opponents.