Mala Moskwa

poetic, gentle, delicate, profound, sad, sea of nuances. axis - a love story in cage of Cold War. memories of a Russian officer and questions of his daughter. silhouette of wife. bricks of a cruel political system. and a tale about feelings, basic gestures and dimension of fear. about power of courage and sacrifice as only key of normal things. it is not good movie. just perfect to discover roots of old similar stories. instrument - special beauty of actors, Polish and Russian language, few crumbs of romanticism and picture on a grave. a cross on the grave of a child and cried of a man at Gagarin death. not very much. but more than a film, it is a seed. and a testimony. remember of a time - a long and painful 1968. and occasion to meet, again, map of Poland soul. a woumb, impossibility to forgive, need to present old scares for understand, accept and learn about essence of a nation

Viewed at the 2010 Polish film festival of Los Angeles. A very interesting picture here was Waldemar Krzystek's latest offering, "Little Moscow" ( Mała Moskwa) which takes up the still touchy subject of the stationing of Russian troops on Polish soil during the Cold War years, which amounted almost to a military occupation. The Little Moscow in question was a large Russian garrison near the city of Legnica which was totally off limits to the local Poles, therefore they called it "Mala Moskwa". Numerous scenes demonstrate the disdain the Russians had for their Polish "allies" and the hatred the Poles had for the Russians, knowing that they were covering up atrocities like the massacre of 18,000 Polish POWs in the Katryn forest by the KGB during WWII, and generally regarding Poland as an inferior puppet state. The focus of the story however, based in part on memories of stories told to the director during his youth, is the illicit love affair between the pregnant wife of a diffident long suffering Russian officer and a gallant handsome young Polish cadet. In a flash forward, after the fall of Communism, the now grey haired Russian returns with his grown up daughter some twenty years later to visit the grave of the mother she never knew. At the very end the aging Pole also makes a shadowy entrance and we suspect that he may actually have been her father.

This is a very carefully woven psychological study of four intertwined lives, and actor Leslaw Żurek, now just thirty, who played the Polish officer is one of the leading stars of the new generation of Polish actors. Mr. Żurek appeared in two other films shown here and was present at all screenings to field questions after each -- in fairly good if somewhat halting English! He is definitely an actor for Polish Film buffs to keep an eye on. Director Krzystek lives and works in Wrocław far from the major film scene in Warsaw. He makes few films but all are sharply observed and cleanly directed.. One of his best in the psychological study of a psychotic university professor entitled "Polska Smierc" or Death Polish Stye.

Although the action of the film takes place in times of war, the film has a very clear romantic "touch" , thanks to photography, music and locations, in contrast to the relentless and ruthless attitude of the Russian military.

Hit the fact that Michal not seem to be aware of the risk to which both are exposed, while Wiera does, so a tension is created due to this contrary behaviour.

Story is told through two timelines, which makes the movie more realistic.

I did not expect the ending, and was ........ surprising.

8/10

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.