Aftermath (2012)

Waste of time

Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

On its own, and to people unfamiliar with Jedwabne's past, this might seem like a decent movie. But once you get to know what really happened and then watch the movie, you're only left with bewilderment, or disgust.While in the movie the whole village (and all of its ancestors) have dirt on their hands and desperately try to shut down the inconvenient truth from coming out, in reality the excavations in Jedwabne were stopped by the Jews. As more and more proof came out clearly proving that Germans orchestrated that bestial crime, interest in continuing the search was substituted with demands to stop it, basing it on not wanting to further profanate the dead bodies. And it came from those same Jewish organizations that pushed hard for excavating. The truth turned out to be less spicy than people thought - if we can even sum up like that such a tragedy.The film made quite a storm in Poland, and for good reason. Anti-Polish movies that show us in the worst possible light are getting financed easily from public money while the ones that try to be as faithful to the real history and patriotic movies in general are regularly denied funding. For Polish people, aided by our own government, to produce a movie that blatantly lies about history to put us in the worst possible light while claiming to do the opposite (supposedly coming to terms with dark past) sounds like a cruel joke, but that's our reality and people grow more conscious and angered with it every year.If you want to watch it as a non-factual movie for its story and are not interested in historical realism, it's probably worth it, it's decent. Still, a movie that not only addressed history, but a highly sensitive and painful subject, must be judged by how close it sticks to what we really know about the topic. After all, people treat movies that refer to history as a source of information about the world that we live in. So when such drastic deviation is being made, even if it would be an Oscar-worthy material (which it's far from), its core is still rotten and that has to reflect on rating. As a fictional movie, 6.5/10. With "historical lesson" included, 2/10.

"Aftermath" (2012 release from Poland: 2014 DVD release in the US; 107 min.) brings the fictional story of the aftermath of WWII in a rural village in Poland. As the movie opens, we see Francis Kalina landing at Warsaw's airport. We later learn that he basically left/fled Poland for the US when General Jaruzelski declared martial law in 1981 and that this is his first time back in 20 years (thus setting the movie in the early '00s). Francis comes to visit his younger brother Jozef who runs a small farm. It's not long before we notice that the villagers seem to despise Jozef. We then learn that Jozef has taken a personal interest in restoring tomb stones of local Jews who were murdered by the Germans in WWII, and Jozef is recreating a cemetery on his farm one by one with the tomb stones he recovers. Meanwhile, in a parallel story, things seem askew with the property title of Jozef's farm. To tell you more about this plot-heavy movie would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: I saw this movie recently at a film festival (more on that later). I had never heard of the movie, and didn't know anything about it or the plot going in. I was surprised how long it took for the true story lines to emerge. When Jozef, the younger brother, is assaulted in a café a good 30-40 min. into the movie for no apparent reason, I made the mental note... "why?". The story line involving the property titles is developed even later, about an hour into the movie. Frankly, by then I was about to give up on the movie. I decided to hang in there, and yes, the last 30-40 min. redeem the movie to a degree. Perhaps one of the reasons that I had trouble connecting is that I was not all that impressed with the acting performances, I mean, you truly watch them "act" when in a film you shouldn't feel as if you are watching "acting", you know what I mean? All that aside, the historic background and ulterior intentions of the movie can never be in doubt, and just from that angle, this is something people should watch.I recently saw "Aftermath" at the 2015 Jewish & Israeli Film Festival here in Cincinnati. The screening was sold out, but more importantly, the organizers have assembled a top-notch quality line-up of movies such as The Green Prince, Dancing in Jaffa, and The Third Half, just to name those. As a movie buff and a support of the Israeli cause, I absolutely love this festival. As to "Aftermath", the movie is well-intended but takes forever to establish, so I'm giving it a mixed 3.5 stars: not bad but not great either.

Not too long ago, many were slaughtered, and there was a fraction that got all the attention and the blame. The problem is that there were parties that just stood by while others committed these crimes and/or either approved or even participated in their execution. The film explores how there was more to history than we have been exposed to, that the horrors were worse than anything we could imagine, and the devil shows his ugly face in more than one way.Two brothers find themselves at the heart of the story, which begins as a some type of thriller/conspiracy the likes of which we have seen before. For a while the spirit of "Chinatown" comes to mind, and a beautifully crafted film slowly unfurls a narrative where the mystery expands, the cast of the dueling parties grows as new layers are revealed, and eventually the film combines elements seen in old fashioned thrillers, horror movies, and even a touch of noir here and there.What takes the film to a higher category is that what we see here has basis on real historical events, and as we realize this, our souls hurt because the pain is too much, and it might be that there is the possibility that we can become one of the parties involved. After all, free will has always been at the core of the worst human decisions in history. Either we want to destroy, to save, or to remain quiet and allow the evils to continue and grow. Liars have for years assisted those who either killed or stole, and they condoned quietly the actions of others by not interfering.Films like these makes us remember how ignorant we are, in many different degrees by either not learning enough, not being willing to change and by not facing what really exists in our own souls.

Contrary to what other people might say, this film is not (all) about Polish resentment towards Jews. As stated in the summary, it tackles another vice: every human's unconditional reflex to do just about anything to avoid pleading guilty.As it happens, something bad - a euphemism I'm using instead of a more precise spoiler - happened to a group of Jewish inhabitants of a town lost in the Polish countryside. It was during WWII, times were tough, everyone wanted to survive. Plus, better strange "them" than familiar "us".A myriad excuses boiled down to one act of violence after which the town went back to post-war normalcy. People were born as usual, grew food all working week, went to church on Sundays, died. The cycle of life seemed unbroken, save for that nuisance from, as the movie's events take place around the year 2000, over 50 years ago. And no good can come from pondering about it.The film's two protagonists learn about it the hard way. They are two brothers, one of whom has just come back after living for 20 years in the USA. Surprisingly, his mentality remained unchanged there. Contrary to that, his younger brother, who stayed in their backwater little town, had undergone a curious transformation: he started asking questions about mysterious stone tablets lying in the mud here and there.To say that the acting is solid is an understatement. While perhaps not top-notch effort from all of the cast, overall it's nearly as good as it gets. You can expect stellar performances from a handful of elderly actors playing tertiary characters, as well as from Ireneusz Czop, one of the two main characters. The writing is fine: conversations seem natural, and there are a few very powerful monologues.So, if „Poklosie" is such a well-acted and written movie with good cinematography, music and editing – if there is nothing wrong with it, why not more than 7/10 from me? My only real problem with it is that when it comes to symbolism, the director hammed it up. I mean, the burning building, the dark forest, the good priest's heart attack at that particular moment, the rain, the way a person dies in the movie … come on. Way too dramatic, I say. Fear not, though, as most of my uneasiness comes from the fact that I seriously can't stand overly symbolic images. If you're not particular about them (think moderated Independence Day) – forget what I said. Just find and watch this film, I highly recommend it.Two more things. First, the movie's title means „The Reaping", as in „Harvest", but also „Consequences". My suggestion for the English title would be „What You Sow".Second, „Poklosie" is based on true events. Not, and I mean it, NOT like some cheap horror story. Something very similar to what is unveiled in this film really happened in at least one place in Poland during World War II. Hard to imagine, hard to stomach. Hard to remember.