Promised Land (Director's Cut)
by Andrzej Wajda
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka, Daniel Olbrychski, Kalina Jedrusik, Wojciech PszoniakDirector: Andrzej Wajda
Brand: Vanguard
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Original Language); Polish (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-10-28
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Vanguard Cinema
Movie Reviews of Promised Land (Director's Cut)
Movie Review: Masterwork, showing part of history of capitalism in Europe
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie Promised Land by Wajda is great on many levels: directing, acting, camera work, costumes,etc. Wajda is not dissapointing.It shows turbulent times during the XIXc. very well, the extremes of unleashed greed and how people were affected by greed: their own or of the others.
Industrialization brought easier access to goods, but also dramatic changes, not always for the better.
The story of three men,German, Jewish and Polish who become business partners is of course fictional, but of course such partnerships probably existed.And capitalism of XIX c. and the situation int eh city of Lodz was bad. The movie is based on a novel, the author of which, Reymont, was working a as clerk for an industrialist in Lodz,and knew the problems first hand. The exploitation of the poor,and the competition between the industrialist was merciless indeed. So,we see abuses of power, sexual exploitation, abuse of trust, and other evils.Reymont's, and Wajda's ambition was to show a realistic picture of early capitalism as seen in Lodz, which place magnified the evils even more.
I think in order to understand the movie better, it is good to take in account the history of Lodz, and the role this played on the map of European capitalism.Geographically, a Polish city, under the control of Russian Empire, it experienced explosive growth after the decree of the tsar helped to make it to the center of weaving industry. I think fast became the biggest center of this kind in entire Europe. At a price, of course.As the wave of enterpreneurs emigrants, who were industrialists already, or those hoping to make a fortune really fast,there were also the poor who came in desperation but with hopes for a better life. The very bitter realities are shown in this movie, and actually some things may have happened in real life.
As the movie portraying Polish society: the city was very diverse, because of waves of emigration. At some point there were only twenty percent of ethnic Poles in Lodz.So, the movie shows a part of social history in Europe,as Lodz was so unusual in many ways. You probably know that Esperanto, the invented language,was invented by Zamenhoff, a Jew by ethnicity, who lived in Lodz. Zamenhoff wanted to help people to communicate,as there was such a medley of languages, there was real problem: communication across nationalities. I think this fact alone says a lot about the situation in Lodz, it can give impression of chaos which existed there, than.The situation of the poor was really miserable.
Back to the movie itself:the situation among the rich was not good either, because the predatory practices, which cause so much suffering of the factory workers and their families. The rich couldn't be sure of thier future either,as fortunes were made quick, but could be lost extremely fast too. Like the robber barons int he US, the industrialists in Lodz had no mercy for each other.Some of the characters in the movie are more extreme than the others. Should I add that the characterization and acting is superb?
For example Bogucki, the Polish partner in the three ethnic enterprise, is extremely agressive. He comes from a family of Polish nobility, very empoverished, and he worked as a clerk, and is the poorest of the trio. But, probably because of the relative lack of means, as compared to his partners, he compensates in his lack of scruples. He sells the property on the country, his father and w woman whom he should marry need to be uprooted, that he could invest.Nothing is holly for him, literally, as he even swears on a holy icon (false testimony), in order to deceive. There are bad characters from other nationalities, but Bogucki is the worst.In the end scene when he is presenting his little son, dressed with Oriental decadence, like a little tsar, or Polish magnate of Baroque painting, the viewer has no doubts that the capitalism of those days was not less oppressive and power hungry than feudalism. Actually this scene shows the continuity of the corruption of feudalism carried into new times, on the wave of industrial revolution.
Summary of Promised Land (Director's Cut)
Andrzej Wajda's interpretation of a classic 19th century epic depicts the sweeping change in values ushered in by the industrial revolution. Three friends hope to build a factory, but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair. Critically acclaimed for its masterful direction and fine acting, this ever-current film has a strong statement to make about modern times. With the master director's brand new re-edit made possible by Poland's liberation from Communism. In Polish w/ English SubtitlesArt House & International DVD Video
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