How I Became a Gangster

And not directed by pathetic moron Vega. Nice story with a twist.

Do watch it, if you're interested in a bro-manship movie, on gangsters, on ethics and human values, on history. It will make you question a lot about the humans involved in this movie and how gray area some things can be and how despite the fact that the protagonist cared about human value, ethics etc he screwed himself up in an unethical business because of the need to feel adrenaline, or become somebody to someone else, the feel to feel important.

If I didn't have to value it among other movies I would put an 8-9, but there are many great movies and the enemy of the great is the greatest.

But this movie is definitely worth your time. I won't spoil anything, I feel you don't need to know much or else it will ruin your experience. I started watching it with the feeling of "are we romanticizing gangsters now? Really?", but it's not what this movie is about.

Watch it with remorse, empathy, value for everybody's lives inside even the ones killed. That way you'll get into the head of the protagonist and the writer(s) behind this movie, start understanding that it's not about romanticizing gangsters, but about humans as a whole, as a species. Try to see the bigger picture, and this movie will feel like an unpolished gem.

How I Became a Gangster (2020) is a bruising, stylish dive into the underworld of Poland's criminal elite, trading Hollywood gloss for Warsaw grit. It's not just another rags-to-riches crime saga, it's a study in obsession, loyalty, and the raw hunger that fuels the Polish mafia's rise. The film pulses with unflinching realism, drawing you deep into a world where charm is as lethal as a bullet. The narration feels confessional, almost conspiratorial, turning the viewer into an accomplice. Director Maciej Kawulski sidesteps cliché, crafting a character-driven story that never glamorizes its violence but lingers in its aftermath. The gangland hierarchy is depicted like a chessboard soaked in vodka and blood, where one wrong move means checkmate. This is Eastern European noir at its most captivating, it's icy, intense, and undeniably magnetic. For fans of gangster cinema craving something authentic, this is a brutal breath of Slavic air.

Long movie, but it did hold your interest. There were several twists that made you question your perspective for the story line. Expect to see the criminal lifestyle. No doubt this kind of stuff goes on and for the lower level criminals it is likely certain that life is the profoundly lived without certainty. For the foreign movies I've seen this one follows through with the same dinginess. One might think that after the destruction of Poland after WWII there would places in less shambles. The film did depict some housing that was quite nice, the starkness made one question if the difference was that great. Don't think I'd want to watch it again, but the first time through wasn't bad.

This film is a copy of many others in this genre: first person narrator, crushing amounts of filthy language, slow motion shots, Pulp Fiction-style supposedly funny dialogues between thugs, glamorization of banditry, etc. It portrays a group of individuals with whom it is impossible to sympathize, who do foolish things and use disgusting idiom. I suppose it would hurt less to watch if they didn't use my native language Polish. But they do. This makes it unbearable. The sad thing is that young impressionable youths, who are the typical audience of such productions, easily pick up the same linguistic habits and outlook on life, which turn them into the same class of cultural and moral cripples as the characters of this sorry attempt at film-making.