300 Milhas Até o Céu

"300 mil do nieba" tells the story of two brothers and a friend of the oldest, who decide to take their chances and try to get out of Poland any way possible. We end up having a sad little movie, that shows the terrible situation of the poor and oppressed.

The story is simple enough and basically follows the grueling journey of the two brothers since the moment they decide to go on the run together. Their family is poor, their father, a teacher, lost his job because he didn't obey the orders from above about how history should be taught, they also have two younger twins... They are being strangled economically and psychologically, and in their imagination, they see the United States as the dream land.

The movie is bleak. Not terribly, but it keeps dark, dirty and angry throughout the whole running time. The direction is simple but effective, and the acting, even if the children are not great, is acceptable enough that it doesn't become a negative. The music is beautiful and brings the story to life without making it very cheesy. However, there are some down points, like some breaks of pace that don't make much sense, and some jarring moments when the story jumps from one point to the other too much in a hurry.

Good movie, but it could have been better.

I believe this is an amazing and powerful film! This is one of the few films I have ever watched completely "without translation". It was so well made, that didn't matter to me. The photography, mood, lighting, atmosphere and the absolutely haunting music score had me totally absorbed. (Later, I managed to find a copy to purchase, and watched it with English translations)

And what can I say about the natural talent of the beautiful children in this film, and what their characters went through to try finding a better life somewhere! When it was over, I was counting my blessings. I never had to grow up in conditions anywhere near as harsh as depicted through the children in this story. The final few incredible scenes capture the very depth of human emotions. Seriously, those ending scenes hit me hard! Look closely at the faces of the two brothers as they sit beside each other. And, please don' miss the sign on the building right behind them! It's my opinion that "300 Mil do Nieba" is a Masterpiece!

What a great movie. It was recommended to me by a friend whose family escaped communist Poland in the early 1980s. Having no notion of what life under such oppressive regime might be like, I watched the movie more out of respect to my friend than a genuine interest in the story. But it sucked me in completely. It was well worth the time. And stayed with me long after. What these two kids went through to help their family was truly moving. Also, it gave me a better understanding of what communism in Eastern Europe was like in the 1980s. Excellent acting. Very well done.

A moving story, indeed.

Still relevant for the obvious reason although the hardships of illegal immigrants are secondary to a sober condemnation of the stark living conditions in '80s Poland. Late stage communism is taken to task here as a morass of bureaucracy, where good will is in short supply and petty state officials make life difficult for the vulnerable seemingly as amusement. It's no wonder the two boys central to the story flee for the west in naive hope of helping their beleaguered parents. The plucky actors are as sympathetic as they are likable, effectively reenacting events with basis in reality. Thanks Netflix Turkiye for this experiment.

A very good portraiting of the absurdity of life under communism in poland. I particularly liked Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak's preformence as Mrs Kviatkovsky. I first saw this movie in the Jerusalem film festival of 1990 or 1991, and it is just as good now as it was back then.

Thumbs up.