Mala Moskwa

It's an interesting film with a romance between a minor Polish military officer and a wife of a Russian officer stationed in a huge military base in Poland's Lower Silesia. A daughter is born out of the romance and the mother dies. We only find out in the end how it all happened when she, the daughter, and the widower visit the grave of the dead woman in Poland again after some twenty years. The same Russian actress who plays the mother plays the daughter role. More than half of the film is in Russian. There is fine music included of Ewa Demarczyk sung by the actress perhaps. It's in Polish with an accent with some Russian lyrics added. (We saw Demarczyk sing these songs at the Town Hall, NYC, winter 1987.)

A movie about thetraditional hate between polish and russians, but also a movie about blind love.A movie like americans never been capable to make.A movie with many political exagerations but a lesson of playing , telling the story , and direction.

1967, Legnica (headquarters of the Soviet forces stationed in Poland from 1945 until 1990). The city, with the largest Russian army, is a Soviet enclave closed to outsiders, including Polish citizens, during this time. Yuri (Dmitry Ulyanov) is a young Russian pilot and failed astronaut posted to Legnica with his even younger wife Vera (Svetlana khodchenkova). Vera learns Polish and becomes fascinated with Polish music and poetry. At the Polish-Soviet "friendship song contest" she meets Polish officer and musician Michał (Lesław Żurek). The story inexorably leads to tragedy as Vera desperately tries to stop herself from falling in love with Michał, equally desperately tries to hide her infatuation when this fails. For starters I need to say that when I start watching Mała Moskwa I was not expecting the emotional ride that was ahead of me. As foreigner living in Poland for more than half decade I can say that only now I start to be aware of the background and story on this country, and It's obvious us that the II world war left scars that even time will not heal. When the great Wajda picked up the theme of "Katyn" I was anxious to see this emotional twirl of muffled hurtful feelings come on screen, but I was disappointed by how the excess of a big production made it look just an expensive visual document of an historical event, but washed of any human emotion, distant and cold. Now on the hands of Waldemar Krzystek, we have again the Russian occupation theme, but in such a deep poetic human way that your reaction watching it it's just speechless. Tears fall inside and outside as Krzystek leads you into an emotional reconstitution of what this times where. Trough is remarkable direction the "unreal" and poetic performances come so close to your heart and brain. Like a drug that Hypnotizes you, is the best way for me to describe the images that Krzystek produces. Mała Moskwa is for sure a high standard piece of cinema which for me it belongs only to master pieces and this is without doubts one of them. A special word for the stunning performances for all cast but specially for the unique Svetlana khodchenkova, which the word brilliant is not enough to define.

The plot blurb on this page gets it wrong: During the Cold War, a local Polish officer and a young Soviet woman wedded to a Soviet officer are drawn together by music. The asymmetry between their countries' position and power are important to the plot, so I don't consider this mix-up trivial. Their affair attracts the attention of the military authorities precisely because of her military connections. Restrictions on the movements of Poles around the Soviet forces forces the couple to maneuver a fair bit to prosecute their affair. Indeed, one subterfuge to circumvent those restrictions lands the officer in trouble that seems disproportional to mere adultery. Although his commanding officers appear to have a modicum of sympathy for him, there is not much they can do in th face of the Soviets. The film is very well done for a melodrama but doesn't rise above the genre.

a love story. special for the delicate / wise/precise manner to show it. for the inspired trip between past and present, for the convincing portrait of a dramatic episode of Polish recent history .and for the admirable performances. a film as splendid exam of emotions, politic pressure and a dramatic live story, against rules, interdiction and clash between two cultures. în this case, the love story is more than a touching ingredient but the tool for define the essence of a period in precise manner .