Róza

'Rόża', a big-budget Polish production, is set just after the Second World War, as the German community in Poland face reprisals from the Communists. The couple sitting next to me in the cinema were whispering to each other throughout, which was tiresome - almost as tiresome as the film's multiple rape scenes. Many German women did indeed suffer sexual violence at the hands of the Red Army, but I really don't think it was necessary to show it quite so often - even if most of the scenes were extremely quick and none of them were titillating. It spoiled what was otherwise a good human-interest drama. To show one such scene, to establish what the characters were suffering, would have been acceptable - to show multiple such scenes veered, albeit unintentionally, too far into voyeurism, IMHO.

Rose falls in line with the long tradition of somber Polish martyr tales from the Second World War. Though more modern takes on the war have some new wrinkles, such as the once uncomfortable admission of Polish collaborators with the Soviets and Nazis, the basic stories of the protagonists and how they fit into Poland's narrative remains the same. The focus of the story is often still a person, an altruist and martyr, struggling to survive in a world where altruism has no answers.

Rose is the tale of a widowed woman, her daughter, and a former AK officer hiding his identity, trying to survive the chaotic post-war environment of rural Poland. Their surroundings are constantly hostile, Russian soldiers, a burgeoning Communist Party and opportunists all do their best to take advantage of the chaos. Violence, rape, looting the corpses left behind by the war, or the ever present minefields, there is nothing romantic, or joyous. The only option is survival, and the protagonist's hope for a piece of their prewar dignity.

The film, in it's affectation, does well to reflect this. It's color is purposely muted, as if still covered in a layer of ash. The sun is never allowed to shine through the clouds, and the coming of a hard winter looms over everything. All this however, makes watch the film itself difficult. The story hardly lets up, and it's darkness and violence wears on you. It makes for an experience that is difficult to watch, and you can become desensitized to it's violence. It becomes easier and easier to disengage.

You can't deny the film's attempt of a honest portrayal of that tragic era of Polish history. However, the film almost chases these tragedies with reckless abandon. The film opens with the protagonist begin forced to watch the rape of wife by German soldiers, in the wreckage of their destroyed and burning home. A valid metaphor, but not a particularly sophisticated one. Though, as an experience the problems of its dramatic construction keep the film from being brilliant, it is well filmed and acted. Worth seeing, in the interest of history, but difficult to watch and definitely not for everyone.

Gritty, hard to watch, tense, gloomy, realistic, definitely not for all audiences. Sensitive film with unbearable torture scenes and a deep depiction of post WW2 Poland. Don't expect to laugh much, because it is shocking, revolting. Beautiful, unforgettable, so shame it was not released in France.

more terrible than many battle story. because it represents only a honest testimony about the way to see the other. because it is one of the so many hate story who defines each period. because it is only a story about a woman and a man and the end of a war in a region who has its rules and fears and frustrations and definition of justice. and this does Rose different. because it is not exactly a case or slice of past or example of vulnerability of a single woman. but picture of a profound side of present. and this is its basic virtue - to be a story about people. not about heroic acts, not about the manner to survive. only one of the not important stories who preserve the roots of the lines from the history books.

cold, harsh, bitter. only testimony. reflection of a time. or only picture of an ordinary story. a woman. a man. end of a war. beginning of other. a farm. and mixture between fear, hope and drops of joy. more than a film, it is a travel in the heart of reality. emotions, tension, and gray nuances. nothing else. only a slice from East. and a different lesson of history. because all is testimony. with perfect instruments, with desire to not forgive, to present not exactly an individual tragedy but sufferance of a land who can be Masuria, Bukovina, Kosovo or Alsace.a woman, a man, a love story out of declaration and a war traces. like remember. like profound, silent cry. or only, like a testimony. from a past who is seed for future.