Cold War, written and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski - 9 out of 10

Cold War, written and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
9 out of 10


This beautiful, sad, compelling motion picture has won Best Director and has been nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival of 2018...this year.

This means it is one of the best productions , superior to the one participating at the Oscars, Golden Globes and other perhaps more popular, but less relevant cinematic gatherings.

For those of us living behind the Iron Curtain, when it was visible in place, some might argue it is still there for some purposes, only less obvious, the story, atmosphere, tension, drama of the film is familiar.

Wictor loves Zula and would go to any extremes to be with her, even when the tyrannical communist regime would stand in his way.

They are both artists and they meet when Wictor and a colleague are listening to various singers to select new members of their group.
Zula is auditioning and although the woman who is considering her performance is not so overwhelmed, Wictor is more than impressed.

Love at first sight?
Probably.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most influential, important psychologists and writers of our time.
In his classic Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, he goes into the details of Thin Slicing, The Harding Effect and reading his masterpiece would illuminate the reader and make the encounter between the protagonists of Cold More more understandable.

When Wictor decides to run from the communist regime and abandon Poland, Zula, who is his lover by then, would not consent, even if she agrees to it in the first instance.
He lives and sings in a jazz band in Paris.

When the hero finds that his love would be attending, participating in a music festival in the then Yougoslavia, he travels there.
He is evicted, exiled by the authorities.

Modern day Romeo and Juliet reunite however.
They remind one of:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

Similar to the lovers from the Lightness, Wictor and Zula find that Paris is not for them.
Well, it is not for her.

She goes back.
When he tries the Polish Embassy, in an effort to return normally, the official rejects the prospect:

You are not Polish anymore...
And you have no French citizenship.
There is nothing you can do!

Responding to the protests of the man who is evidently Polish, even if not officially and as a consequence of the illegitimate, vicious, repressive actions of a loathsome regime he had been stripped of his right, the Communist has an alternative:

Of course, you are very familiar with the intelligentsia, the people of the arts, the creme de la creme here...
If you were to give us information...act for our benefit...

In other words, spy for us, be an agent of influence and the law could be ignored...

Wictor risks his life and liberty by crossing the border illegally, back into his country.
He is arrested and sentenced to a long prison term.

But he can see and embrace his love.

Extraordinary film, deeply troubling and at the same time exhilarating.
An exquisite poem of love!