Screening on 06/09/19
Sponsored by The Cheese Society
Poland 2018
Dir: Pavel Pawlikowski
Starring: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Boris Szyc
Cert 15
88 mins
Pawlikowski’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Ida also homes in on Poland’s communist past, this time concentrating on the passionate and volatile relationship, over a 15 year period, between musicians Zula and Wiktor. In 1949 pianist Wiktor is part of a team touring Poland to audition talented young singers for a traditional folk ensemble. Wiktor’s head is soon turned by the seductive, self-assured Zula. ‘Mazurek’, the ensemble that is eventually formed, with Zula as a leading light, performs at home and abroad to great acclaim, but is subject to increasing ideological pressure from Poland’s authoritarian government. Zula and Wiktor manage to cross frontiers and taste greater artistic and personal freedom, but struggle to find happiness, the pull of their homeland remaining strong. Throughout this dark personal odyssey the music speaks for itself in its many interpretations; simple folk songs, Stalinist anthems and jazz arrangements. Both epic and intimate, Cold War is a film of great emotional depth.
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