Cwal (1996)

Director:

Krzysztof Zanussi

Writer:

Krzysztof Zanussi

Stars:

Maja Komorowska, Bartosz Obuchowicz, Karolina Wajda

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maja Komorowska	...	Aunt Ida Dobrowolska
Bartosz Obuchowicz	...	Hubert
Karolina Wajda	...	Rozmaryna
Piotr Adamczyk	...	Ksawery
Piotr Szwedes	...	Dominik
Andrzej Szenajch	...	Rotmistrz
Halina Gryglaszewska	...	Idalia's aunt
Slawomira Lozinska	...	Hubert's mother
Stanislawa Celinska	...	Justyna Winewar - minister's wife
Krystyna Bigelmajer	...	Teacher
Agnieszka Warchulska	...	Headmaster
Grzegorz Warchol	...	LZS leader
Jan Prochyra	...	Ubek
Stephen Kember	...	British diplomat
Eugeniusz Priwieziencew	...	Prosecutor

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

stable | 1950s | horse riding | tattletale | liar | 

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Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish Russian English Italian

Release Date:

29 April 1996 (Poland)

Also Known As:

At Full Gallop

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polish TV, Tor Film Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

The story of some good people with a 'bourgeois' love of horses under repressive PZPR Stalinism

"Cwal" ("At Full Gallop" or "In Full Gallop"), is the story of a collection of good people living under the USSR-supported Stalinist-Communist single-party government of the Polish United Worker's Party (the 'Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza', or the 'PZPR') in the former 'People's Republic of Poland' (the 'Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa', or the 'PRL'), a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

This film, apparently largely based on the real childhood experiences of the director, Krzysztof Zanussi Zanussi (1939-, "Persona non grata" (2005), "Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease" (2000)), shows just some of the suffering caused by the misguided Communist politics of 'class' envy and the resentment of 'bourgeois' hobbies in the former Eastern bloc (see Ksawery).

The good people of Poland are repeatedly denied and repressed as when Hubert is not permitted by the state to accept harmless packages from his father in England and when his eccentric Aunt Idalia (the beautiful and talented Maja Komorowska of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Dekalog, jeden" and "Dekalog, dwa" (1989), Zanussi's "Kontrakt" (1980) and Andrzej Wajda's "Wesele" (1973) fame...) cannot easily (or legally) indulge in her 'bourgeois' passion of horse riding without winning the assistance of an ironically overfed government Minister or a pompous 'Socialist hero' the type of General Rossokovsky.

I would highly recommend this very entertaining and emotive film to anyone, including - no, especially - the Socialists of all parties.