The best Tomasz Zaliwski’s movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Tomasz Zaliwski’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Tomasz Zaliwski.
The Saragossa Manuscript
7.8/10
In the Napoleonic wars, an officer finds an old book that relates his grandfather's story, Alfons van Worden, captain in the Walloon guard. A man of honor and courage, he seeks the shortest route through the Sierra Morena. At an inn, the Venta Quemada, he sups with two Islamic princesses. They call him their cousin and seduce him; he wakes beside corpses under a gallows. He meets a hermit priest and a goatherd; each tells his story; he wakes again by the gallows. He's rescued from the Inquisition, meets a cabalist and hears more stories within stories, usually of love. He returns to Venta Quemada, the women await with astonishing news.
The Witcher
3.8/10
The adventures of Geralt of Rivia, commonly known as the Witcher.
How I Unleashed World War II, Part I: The Escape
On the night of August 31, 1939, Dolas, from a platoon reinforcing a train station on the German border, falls asleep in a train car and unknowingly crosses into Germany. The moment he shoots a German, who he thinks is a saboteur, the German invasion of Poland begins, and Dolas is convinced it was his fault. He is taken to Stalag POW camp, the first destination in his odyssey around Europe.
Funeral Ceremony
5.6/10
After the death of a respected academician, who in his private life was a tyrant and a phony, the family awaits arrival of a prodigal son to begin the ceremony. However, the deceased has prepared a vengeance for his disappointing sons...
Eroica
7.3/10
Two sketches covering episodes from the World War II. In the first novel, "Scherzo alla polacca", a shrewd son, trying to preserve his skin, ultimately becomes a hero and finds a reason for fighting. He initially tries to avoid underground training to avoid the Warsaw uprising. His drunkenness, disregard for safety and cowardice when sober stated with humorous effect come out as something sane in the world gone mad. His will to survive is more acceptable than any desire for heroic death. The second novel, "Ostinato lugubre", details a hopeless attempt at escape from a prison camp by a man who can no longer stand the confinement and idiocy of the professional soldiers trying to keep up the military preneses in prison. Nevertheless, his escape boosts the morale of his fellow prisoners, while the "escapee" lies hidden from Germans and comrades alike." From Polish Cinema Database
The Doll
6.9/10
Set in the 19th century Warsaw. The indolence of aristocrats who, secure with their pensions, are too lazy to undertake new business risks, frustrates Wokulski. His ability to make money is respected but his lack of family and social rank is condescended to. Because of his "help" (in secret) to "the doll's" impecunious but influential father, the girl becomes aware of his affection.
The Old Fairy Tale: When the Sun Was God
5.5/10
In IX century Europe, on the brink of Poland's birth, a cruel prince, Popiel, murders his cousins to ensure his son's succession. His crimes lead to an uprising of his subjects lead by the former commander of Popiel's army, Piastun, and a young hunter and warrior, Ziemowit. Meanwhile Ziemowit falls in love with Dziwa, lovely girl who is to become a priestess in the local temple ...
Samson
6.3/10
Sampson is one of several Andrzej Wajda films harking back to his youth during the Nazi Occupation of Poland. Many of these concern not only the struggle between good and evil, but also between passive and impassive. The hero is a Jewish youth. He, like his family, has always been silent and undemonstrative in the face of prejudice. Now he stands up for his right to survive, and in so doing represents the fighting spirit that culminated in the 1943 Warsaw Uprising. It was originally titled Samson, but re-spelled as Sampson upon its American release to avoid confusion with a sword-and-sandal epic of the same name.
The Attempt
6.9/10
Set in the occupied Warsaw, the film tells the story of the mission carried out by the student uderground resistance group to execute the hated SS General Franz Kutchera.
Thais
5.3/10
Thais, an Egyptian courtesan, is converted to a life of a penitant by Paphnutius, a holy man. She is taken to a convent in the desert and lives her life in the care of the abbess there. But Paphnutius is changed by the vision of Thais and becomes obsessed with gaining her love and retrieving her from the spiritual world for himself.
Dłużnicy Śmierci
3.8/10
Poland 1946. Militia looks for commander of anticommunist partisans called Grom (Thunder). It quickly comes out that militiamen have to discover a rat in their group.
The First Day of Freedom
6.7/10
Freed Polish soldiers are trapped in a small town in Germany during the last days of World War II. After a doctor's daughter is raped by a concentration camp worker, the Poles allow her and her father to stay in the house that is their temporary quarters. While waiting to be repatriated, the war-weary group is forced to fight some German soldiers who invade the town. The war brings out conflicting emotions of the Poles who find themselves trapped in the house and once again under fire from the enemy.
A Slip-Up
6.2/10
The main character has quit school, makes a living by taking pictures. He seduces a nurse who treated his head wound which he earned in a fight. They witness a hit-and-run driver killing a little girl on a sled. He builds up an elaborate trap by putting a doll dressed as a child down the hill in the path of a car. The man hits it and thinking that he hit a child - runs. Marek takes pictures of him and tries to blackmail him to use his car for a week. He wants to use the car to win back the nurse, who could not cope with his humors...
Fiasco of Operation Terror
5.9/10
The action-packed historical and revolutionary film about the struggle of the VCHK with the international conspiracy against the Soviet government in Russia in the beginning 20s. On the activities of Dzerzhinsky, chairman of the VCHK, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs and at the same time Commissar of Railways. About the work on resuscitation of a collapsed industry, army, railways, to which the Iron Felix attracts (some by threats, some by persuasion) pre-revolutionary intellectuals.
The Gorgon Case
7.1/10
In 1931, just before the New Year, in a house of architect Henryk Zaremba scream rips the night. The daughter of Zaremba is found killed in her bedroom, obviously killed with a pickaxe. The police arrives and starts the investigation. Rita Gorgonova, the governess of the girl and also lover of Zaremba becomes the main suspect. Film based on real events - investigation and court trials of the most famous pre-war Polish murder case. Despite being historically accurate the movie is both involving and entertaining since the case was simple on the surface, but very complicated in details.
Two from the Big River
6.6/10
Przeprawa
5.7/10
WWII. Joined forces of Polish and Russian partisans (despite they are in conflict) stand against German Sturmwind I & II actions.
The Criminal Who Stole a Crime
6.7/10
Retired police captain tells a reporter about his latest action - carried on their own investigation into the mysterious death of the girl. Captain MO, Gray, conducts her own investigation into the death of Eve Salm, called Princess. She was a witness in a process in which the defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Gray has doubts and risked their lives seeking to apprehend the real killer.
Niebieskie jak Morze Czarne
6/10
Three Stories
4.7/10
