A Year of the Quiet Sun

Rating:
Summary: Maya Komorowska superb in A Year of the Quiet Sun
Review: A Year of the Quiet Sun is a love story told in the bombed out remains of Poland just after World War II. Scott Wilson is Norman, a private in the American Army who remains behind to take part in the investigation of war crimes. He meets Emilia, a woman he notices painting a picture in a burnt out car. He takes an interest in her and soon falls deeply in love with her and wants to marry her. Emilia is played by Maya Komorowska, who is easily the best thing about this film.

If Komorowska is so good, and she is, why haven't we seen her more frequently? The answer to this question comes in a special feature on the DVD. In the mid 1980's when this film was being made, Poland was still under Soviet oppression. Komorowska was a supporter of Solidarity, according to Scott Wilson, who tells us about the problems he faced working on this film with director Krsysztof Zanussi. Few freedoms were available to the Polish people and the oppression they experienced delayed their recovery from the disaster of the Second World War. Komorowska should have been a major star. Fortunately we have A Year of the Quiet Sun to appreciate her great talent.

As good as the acting is in this film by all involved, the story moves at a snail's pace. We are meant to feel the pain of Norman and Emilia as they attempt to find some happiness in a bombed out world of fear and poverty. Emilia speaks only a little English and Norman speaks no Polish. It takes time for them to figure out what each wants, which they do through nonverbal communication and occasional help from a translator.

Also, Zanussi wants us to see and feel the desperation of the people living in Poland just after the war. He shows us more than he tells us and he takes his time as, for example, we watch Polish bodies being excavated from a mass grave. Emilia's husband may be among the dead, although we are not certain of this.

What we are left with after two hours or so of watching this film is the experience of seeing the profound difference one good person can make in the lives of others. Emilia refuses to allow herself and her life to be reduced to hatred and bitterness. She buries the past and attempts to live nonjudgmentally in the present. She seeks happiness, but not at the expense of her duty to her sick mother and to her friends, most notably a prostitute who is her neighbor. Maya Komorowska brings Emilia to life so convincingly that we will not soon forget her or her story.

Rating:
Summary: Maya Komorowska superb in A Year of the Quiet Sun
Review: A Year of the Quiet Sun is a love story told in the bombed out remains of Poland just after World War II. Scott Wilson is Norman, a private in the American Army who remains behind to take part in the investigation of war crimes. He meets Emilia, a woman he notices painting a picture in a burnt out car. He takes an interest in her and soon falls deeply in love with her and wants to marry her. Emilia is played by Maya Komorowska, who is easily the best thing about this film.

If Komorowska is so good, and she is, why haven't we seen her more frequently? The answer to this question comes in a special feature on the DVD. In the mid 1980's when this film was being made, Poland was still under Soviet oppression. Komorowska was a supporter of Solidarity, according to Scott Wilson, who tells us about the problems he faced working on this film with director Krsysztof Zanussi. Few freedoms were available to the Polish people and the oppression they experienced delayed their recovery from the disaster of the Second World War. Komorowska should have been a major star. Fortunately we have A Year of the Quiet Sun to appreciate her great talent.

As good as the acting is in this film by all involved, the story moves at a snail's pace. We are meant to feel the pain of Norman and Emilia as they attempt to find some happiness in a bombed out world of fear and poverty. Emilia speaks only a little English and Norman speaks no Polish. It takes time for them to figure out what each wants, which they do through nonverbal communication and occasional help from a translator.

Also, Zanussi wants us to see and feel the desperation of the people living in Poland just after the war. He shows us more than he tells us and he takes his time as, for example, we watch Polish bodies being excavated from a mass grave. Emilia's husband may be among the dead, although we are not certain of this.

What we are left with after two hours or so of watching this film is the experience of seeing the profound difference one good person can make in the lives of others. Emilia refuses to allow herself and her life to be reduced to hatred and bitterness. She buries the past and attempts to live nonjudgmentally in the present. She seeks happiness, but not at the expense of her duty to her sick mother and to her friends, most notably a prostitute who is her neighbor. Maya Komorowska brings Emilia to life so convincingly that we will not soon forget her or her story.

Rating:
Summary: "Why Don't We Hear About These Movies?"
Review: This was my husband's question halfway through this powerful film. In 1946, an American officer (Scott Wilson, "In Cold Blood") comes to a devastated, formerly German part of Poland to investigate war crimes. He befriends a displaced war widow (the superb Maja Komorowska) and her mother, despite their meager shared vocabulary. Friendship blossoms into love. But don't expect a lot of pretty scenes. This film is somber, with a complete absence of special effects. Light and color are doled out like postwar jam and coffee. The closest it comes to laughs is the occasional guffaw of frustration at the variously hapless and feckless translators recruited to the lovers' cause. Oh, and viewers of Polish background get a ticket for one chuckle of recognition at the portrait of the self-sacrificing mother. Also, there is no glamour-amid-the-ruins, absolutely none. No, all elements of light entertainment are stripped away here. The film's entire brilliance comes from Zanussi's script and direction, self-effacing yet dumbfounding art and camera work, the basis in history, and virtuoso ensemble acting. The real sufferings endured by millions are the canvas on which this film is painted. Somber, yes, but the story might really have happened; in fact, I have no doubt that some version of it really did happen, perhaps many times. Zanussi's real subject is the bright flame of decency, strength and heroism on which civilized behavior depends. I was a little worried about inflicting this movie on my husband after a hard day's work...would he doze off? But I'd forgotten one thing since I first saw "A Year of the Quiet Sun" years ago as a first-run movie in New York: the superb acting and the fragile communication between the main characters produce a sustained dramatic tension which will keep you on the edge of your seat. Believe me, we both stayed wide-eyed. Had enough of Hollywood? Here's your movie.

Rating:
Summary: "Why Don't We Hear About These Movies?"
Review: This was my husband's question halfway through this powerful film. In 1946, an American officer (Scott Wilson, "In Cold Blood") comes to a devastated, formerly German part of Poland to investigate war crimes. He befriends a displaced war widow (the superb Maja Komorowska) and her mother, despite their meager shared vocabulary. Friendship blossoms into love. But don't expect a lot of pretty scenes. This film is somber, with a complete absence of special effects. Light and color are doled out like postwar jam and coffee. The closest it comes to laughs is the occasional guffaw of frustration at the variously hapless and feckless translators recruited to the lovers' cause. Oh, and viewers of Polish background get a ticket for one chuckle of recognition at the portrait of the self-sacrificing mother. Also, there is no glamour-amid-the-ruins, absolutely none. No, all elements of light entertainment are stripped away here. The film's entire brilliance comes from Zanussi's script and direction, self-effacing yet dumbfounding art and camera work, the basis in history, and virtuoso ensemble acting. The real sufferings endured by millions are the canvas on which this film is painted. Somber, yes, but the story might really have happened; in fact, I have no doubt that some version of it really did happen, perhaps many times. Zanussi's real subject is the bright flame of decency, strength and heroism on which civilized behavior depends. I was a little worried about inflicting this movie on my husband after a hard day's work...would he doze off? But I'd forgotten one thing since I first saw "A Year of the Quiet Sun" years ago as a first-run movie in New York: the superb acting and the fragile communication between the main characters produce a sustained dramatic tension which will keep you on the edge of your seat. Believe me, we both stayed wide-eyed. Had enough of Hollywood? Here's your movie.