Il giuramento di Pamfir

Returning home to where your heart truly belongs, to a family that over time, has had dingdongs, where your son will do most things, to stop you opening your wings, to keep the bonds between each other, firm and strong. The result forces you back to days of old, when contraband was how you made your gold, but there are others with an interest, they will not share, and will not divest, as you're drawn into a world, a darker fold. You play the game but in the end you just can't flee, as the ties that bind are shackles that won't free, there are powers that control, that lead to payment of a toll, you have the lock, but someone else withholds the key.

Heavy. Brave. Quality work. These three epithets came to my mind after we left the cinema. "Pamfir" is difficult to describe. It doesn't fall into categories. How can you categorize Macbeth or a Greek tragedy?

Cinematography is perfect. The message is strong. "Defend your values like a beast, nevertheless, stay human".

Eight stars out of ten. Many scenes are too painful to watch for a Ukrainian in the midst of the war. At times you feel like "yes, it's real life, this is how it goes in our mountains". At other times you tell yourself "no, it's too brutal, it's an artistic exaggeration". You believe the characters; you feel strong empathy for the ones and strong hate for the others. You expect some justice, some flicker of hope. You are waiting for the victory of good over evil. But the film doesn't give you that. The end is far from happy. So you leave the cinema feeling kind of devastated. Only after a few hours the message is getting to you. So it goes. Be strong. Be resilient. Defend your values. Don't wait for mercy. The world is ruthless. You aren't.

I am Ukrainian and after a year of watching russians kill, rape and torture my people it is very hard to make me feel something, especially in cinema. But this drama is so engaging! Characters are very well written, you root for everyone of them, even sometimes it can be contradicting. Main character reminds me of a animal, a beast protecting his family. Furthermore, it feels like all the struggle and bravery of Ukrainian people took a human form of Pamfir. The atmosphere is magical, the nature is rough and beautiful. I'm sorry for foreigners who wouldn't be able to enjoy the authenticity of the dialect characters speak. The narrative holds attention till the last second. Bravo!

I wonder, how the work of a young team with grant financing could be so professional and complete. Strong drama without speculations, 100% cast, beautiful artistic scenes.

It's interesting when you realize during the watching, that you totaly engaged into the screen with movie wich almost have no musical soundtracks, but it impression is still comletely dramatical.

Hard to mention some week points.

All the characters are good, even those whom takes a few scenes on a screen.

Happy to have a chance to watch it with original dubbing. And proud Ukrainians made quality product. With all the respect to all the international team involved.

Everything in this movie was perfect. It's an emotionally powerful film that delves into the human spirit, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It captures criminal and cultural parts of this region. Talented actors could breathe life into the characters they portrayed. Their performances added depth and layers to the narrative, making it more engaging and compelling. Cinematography is the visual language of a film. The cinematography was down to the smallest details. This film consist of many well-shot scences. Creative and engaging cinematography captures the audience's attention. It is one of the best movie I have ever seen.