The Resistance Fighter

Other reviews of this film have been pretty negative but I was surprised how good it was. In the vain of "Max Manus" and "The Black Book" two great war films about the resistance "The Resistance Fighter" is actually about a Polish soldier sent back to Poland from England to deliver messages to the Polish Home Army. The germans are slowly retreating from Poland while the russians are advancing on Poland from the east. I really liked the main character Lt. Jan Nowak-Jezioranski who is the courier sent back to Poland while trying to evade getting captured or killed by the germans. I thought the dialogue and subtitles were well done in this film and the plot moves swiftly as the Lt. is pursued by a german spy who wishes to make contact with the underground and convince them the invading russians are their real enemy. Lt. Jan is tough and capable and the action scenes are well done here. Their is a sad history lesson at the end of this film that some reviewers have said shouldn't be discussed anymore but I disagree. I had low expectations of this film going in but was very pleasantly surprised and glad I purchased it on Amazon.

.. Not as bad as the rating shown by Imdb.

A technically non-sophisticated movie, the director is clearly not going to be remembered for this but it still worthy of a couple of hours of one's time at least to remind us all of the plight of Poland caught, like often before, in the vice grips of larger, predatory countries.

The narrating style could be assimilated to the cartoons that were in vogue after WWII, a sequence of pictures/events trying to capture the various moments of a story without the fluent narration that we could easily expect now but still a solid 7 stars, for both sympathy to the cause and people but also for highlighting an episode of the enormous sacrifice that the Poles suffered.

It's 1944 and Poland is under brutal German occupation. In London, Jan Nowak-Jezioranski is a Free Poland soldier acting as a courier between the Polish government in London and the resistance in his home country. The Allies have decided that Poland shall be under Soviet control after the war. Jan is to deliver a message to stop the impending uprising.

In this movie, Jan is a horrible spy/courier. He is too impulsive and so pushy as to stand out in a crowd. The girl is too obvious at the moment of the party. Her reveal loses some of the shock. There is a difficulty with the story in that the history is well known. The question is how to generate any tension from his mission when the end is already written. I almost want the execution scene. It does settle on an internal conflict within Jan but it's not set up at all. Despite all that, there are moments of great emotional drama like the old farmer lady. There are some tension with some of the pursuit like the train. Those little moments elevate this war drama despite its various issues.

This could have been great. But it focuses on so many things that don't add to the story. It would seem he is supposed to be in a rush, but he takes forever to do certain things. Why spend the effort to get the plane out? This only would allow nazis to catch up. Apparently he can't ride a bike. So let's spend time learning a bike. Why did the woman not say her son was dead, why did the nazis not check the attic? Lots of unanswered questions. This was a lot entrusted to a LT. Again I believe the true story would have been good. This added to many things that call into question the realism of this account.

Will the USA & West stay committed to the Ukraine or float into betrayal once again? Hopefully we'll find the courage and honor to stay the course and not let Putin (aka "hitler") have his way. Should our support dwindle and allow Putin to succeed then we certainly will have the opportunity to watch history repeat itself as he will continue to "annex" parts of yet other now independent countries. Such action will likely draw Poland into military action and on their brave coattails we will find ourselves in direct evolvement in this current conflict. Regardless of mixed reviews all need to be aware of the depth of pain our betrayal caused so that we don't do it yet again.