The film is based on the true story of a senior member of the Polish Politburo and his wife who are both abruptly banished from the party. While they struggle to figure out why, having unusual encounters with people they do not know in the process, things start to take a darker turn when the wife is sent to a mental asylum and their 15-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
Director: John Irvin.
Writers: Richard Greggson, Andrzej Krakowski (story).
Stars: Donald Sutherland, Anne Archer, Paul Freeman, Anthony Bate, Bernard Hepton, Jodhi May, Pip Torrens, Françoise Michaud, Yves Beneyton, Denis Fouqueray, Bernard Hepton.
I,m not sure about the 5-star system in this list.
I treat it as a renormalized star system., with 5 meaning “must be saved”, rather
than a masterpiece.
In this spirit, I gave it two stars. Not good, but watchable.
The acting was uneven. Mr Sutherland was convincing, although not quite representative of the Polish Politburo.
He should not be responsible for his makeup, but I guess he could veto egregious mistakes, such as his eyebrows drawn above the natural line, that was visible in close-ups.
Anne Archer was even less representative as a Politburo wife. And the daughter,; she was supposed to be sixteen. Her baby talk and a pile of teddy bears in her bedroom don’t serve the image. Miscast and poor acting.
Then, the premise. It could happen to a nicer guy.
A semi-autobiography. The author is my contemporary and a fellow Varsovian.
Sure, his father was a good guy. Proud of the communist achievements after WWII; always trying to be between people and the authority –meaning “a moderate”. How many good guys-moderates have I seen?