|
Hot Picks
| |
|
Cudowne Miejsce
Miraculous Place
The Miracle Place
Poland 1994
produced by
Andrzej Stachecki (executive)
directed by Jan Jakub Kolski
starring Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Adam Kamien, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Mariusz Saniternik, Elzbieta Debska, Lech Gwit, Michal Pawlicki, Tadeusz Szymków, Mieczyslaw Hryniewicz, Henryk Niebudek, Andrzej Grabowski, Miriusz Kilian, Elzbieta Kosecka, Pawel Okonski, Feliks Szajnert, Magdalena Dandourian, Wojciech Dabrowski, Franciszek Pieczka, Ewa Kamas, Wanda Weslaw-Idzinska, Krystyna Zylinska, Jolanta Kurach, Waldemar Kotas, Pawel Królikowski
written by Jan Jakub Kolski, music by Marcin Kizyzanowski
review by
Mike Haberfelner
|
|
|
|
Father Jakub (Adam Kamien) comes to rural Poland to take over his first
parish - a place that's full of miracles, apparently, like statues of
saints moving on their own and people showing spontaneous stigmata. Jakub
couldn't be happier about this, which is why he fails to understand father
Andzrej (Krzysztof
Majchrzak) of the neighbouring parish, an older cynical and
disillusioned man, who only wants all the miracles to vanish into thin air.
Soon though, Jakub starts to understand when stigmata show on Grazynka
(Grazyna Blecka-Kolska), who is known as a loose woman in these parts, and
instead of trying to properly sort out the affair, he falls in love and
even has sex with the woman. The townfolks meanwhile try to deal with
everything miraculous happening their own way, freely mixing Christian and
pagan beliefs in the process. It's not long before Grazynka gets tired
of the stigmata, but fortunately, the village idiot who's secretly in love
with her knows of a lake in the vicinity that will heal all wounds. The
stigmata gone should turn everything back to normal again, but this is
where things really get out of hands, as the townfolks soon form a mob to
come after her, which ends in a fire and the murder of father Andrzej, who
curageously tried to stop the mob on his own ... and in the end, father
Jakub leaves his parish, his place of miracles, as cynical amd disillusioned as father
Andrzej has been ... Miraculous Place has all the ingredients
of a great film: Colourful characters brought to life by a great ensemble
cast, a plot that's at the same time a wicked parable and a great template
for satire, and perfect rural scenery that serves its story well - and
yet, Miraculous Place is decidedly less than great: While the
script is made up from many wickedly funny moments, the narrative quite
simply lacks stringency and every now and again loses itself in subplots
that don't really serve the main storyline, which in turn diminishes the
story's power. Now don't get me wrong, the
film is still perfectly watchable as it is, it just definitely isn't what
it could, what it should have been.
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
