Kurier

It was a great surprise and I recommend to see it to anyone who is interested in history of Second World War. The sceneries and locations are wonderful executed and the cinematography was of very high quality. There are many twists and suspense moments that I never got bored. I don't understand the low ratings here. Kurier is too underrated and merits great attention. All the actors delivered a great job and compliments to the director.8/10.

It's 1944 and Poland is under brutal German occupation. In London, Jan Nowak-Jezioranski is a Free Poland soldier acting as a courier between the Polish government in London and the resistance in his home country. The Allies have decided that Poland shall be under Soviet control after the war. Jan is to deliver a message to stop the impending uprising.

In this movie, Jan is a horrible spy/courier. He is too impulsive and so pushy as to stand out in a crowd. The girl is too obvious at the moment of the party. Her reveal loses some of the shock. There is a difficulty with the story in that the history is well known. The question is how to generate any tension from his mission when the end is already written. I almost want the execution scene. It does settle on an internal conflict within Jan but it's not set up at all. Despite all that, there are moments of great emotional drama like the old farmer lady. There are some tension with some of the pursuit like the train. Those little moments elevate this war drama despite its various issues.

This could have been great. But it focuses on so many things that don't add to the story. It would seem he is supposed to be in a rush, but he takes forever to do certain things. Why spend the effort to get the plane out? This only would allow nazis to catch up. Apparently he can't ride a bike. So let's spend time learning a bike. Why did the woman not say her son was dead, why did the nazis not check the attic? Lots of unanswered questions. This was a lot entrusted to a LT. Again I believe the true story would have been good. This added to many things that call into question the realism of this account.

The acting was quite good, and there were a few really good plot twists with plenty of suspense. It is sad how Poland was treated as a pawn by the "super powers" who were supposed to be allies. This is definitely worth watching, and for a change the English translation was well done.

I was born and lived in Poland until I was 22. Then, in 1989 I left just before the fall of the Berlin wall. This movie presented me with a part of Polish WWII history that was never taught to me by either the socialist state or here in the West, our "allies". This movie makes you think "what if.." and presents a part of history which could be considered by some taboo, something we should not speak of.

The truth is Poland was used as pawn in WWI, promised alliance by the West (twice) and then, abandoned to Soviets when the Polish problem became inconvenient to deal with Stalin. As I said, many "what ifs" were brought by this film in my mind and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more beyond the established "history".