From a Far Country (1981)

Director:

Krzysztof Zanussi

Writers:

Diego Fabbri (story)
Andrzej Kijowski (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The film is a biography of Pope John Paul II. It starts in 1926 when the boy Karol Wojtila was celebrating Christmas with his father in Poland...

Plot Keywords:

Poland | Pope | Cardinal | Communist | Pope John Paul II

Cast

Sam Neill	...	Marian
Christopher Cazenove	...	Tadek
Lisa Harrow	...	Wanda
John Welsh	...	Priest
Maurice Denham	...	Sapieha
Cezary Morawski	...	Wojtyla Karol
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Captain
Maja Komorowska
Izabella Olszewska
Andrzej Lapicki
Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Piotr Fronczewski	...	Palitsch
Maciej Robakiewicz
Tadeusz Bradecki
Marek Kondrat	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

Da un paese lontano (Italy)
From a Far Country: Pope John Paul II
Z dalekiego kraju (Poland)

Runtime:

Spain:120 min | UK:140 min

Country:

Italy | Poland | UK

Language:

English | Polish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Poland

Company:

Film Polski Film Agency

Even non-Catholic movie buffs will enjoy this superbly directed film

I'm in Italy, the pope just died this weekend (April 2005) so Italian TV showed 'From A Far Country' late last night. I'm not remotely interested in the pope, and I'm not Italian, so I couldn't understand the dubbing, but I nevertheless stayed riveted to this movie because of the stunning cinematography and subtle special effects that gave the images such an extraordinarily documentarily accurate and overwhelming sense of period time and place. From the apparent ages of the principal actors (Sam Neill, Chris Cazenove etc) I was able to guess that the movie was made in the early eighties, though the clever period look of the film and its imaging effects suggested 21st century digital processes, so it was a real puzzle to me who had made it, perhaps some classy 80's director like Hugh Hudson, with a 2005 makeover from ILM, or perhaps the guy who shot Schindler's List, or even Edgar Reitz. But no, turns out it was all the work of some Polish director I'd never heard of. Bravo Krzysztof Zanussi! Anyone interested in making period, historical movies of ostensibly dry subjects should definitely take notes from this guy. Even the back-projected Vatican crowd sequence about halfway through, although looking obviously fake, is nevertheless so well done that one suspends not only disbelief, but also criticism. Rent this movie and watch it with pleasure - It's a delicious visual treat and one heck of a cinematography tutorial!