Wedding reception
I watched The Wedding. This time Smarzowski dealt with our Polish anti-Semitism and the attitude of Poles towards Jews.
The film is based on the wedding of the daughter of a pork production tycoon from Łomża, whose elderly father receives a message from the Israeli ambassador about the Righteous Among the Nations distinction a few hours before the ceremony.
The entire film is two intertwined stories: the first, set in modern times, is a report from a wedding that we attend together with the bride's grandfather, and the second, set during World War II, is the story of a small town occupied first by the Soviets and then by the Germans, where a mass murder of several hundred Jews takes place, burned alive in a barn by several dozen townspeople at the instigation of the Nazis. The bride's teenage grandfather saves from death a Jewish woman with whom he fell in love before the outbreak of the war.
The director used flashbacks and the interpenetration of events from several decades ago with the current. Filmmakers often reach for this motif, and although it is somewhat hackneyed, Smarzowski's film makes it enjoyable to watch. I have a problem with another technique used by the director. These are a dozen or so, several-second statements by the wedding participants to the camera, in which they make wishes, recite rhymes, and make xenophobic comments. This director's approach is highly controversial to me.
Smarzowski shows the full range of our Polish vices. The father of the bride is a sly guy who runs a business bypassing the law, and the local police are in his pocket. The priest talks from the pulpit about the rainbow plague and warns women that their duty is complete devotion and submissiveness to men. The groom is active in nationalist militias. One of the wedding guests does not want to sit next to a black person. The guests make a lot of envious and xenophobic comments. Although many of these scenes contain a lot of truth about Poles, it is nevertheless presented in a clumsy, unfinished and clichéd way.
The director tries very hard to find some kind of parallel, a common denominator, a cause-effect relationship between these two stories, but he fails completely. It comes off as artificial and intrusive.
The film contains many scenes full of cruelty, which serve no clear purpose. Like the scene in which the main character metes out punishment to the blackmailer, which is rape by a boar.
In this movie, everyone is evil, hateful and primitive. The grandfather who saves the Jewish girl from death does so only because he fell in love with her earlier.
This film explains nothing. It doesn't pose any hypotheses. It doesn't ask any questions. The characters in this film have no doubts. Everything is black and white and unambiguous. And that's why this film didn't stir up any emotions in me that I go to the cinema for.
This film is somewhat saved by the cinematography and actors: the reliable Robert Więckiewicz in the role of the Polish smart-ass, the always perfect Agata Kulesza, the excellent Arkadiusz Jakubik and the very promising young actor Mateusz Więcławek.
For me, after the good Clergy and Volhynia, one of the best Polish directors makes a mistake.
I do not recommend The Wedding.
