I enjoyed watching "An Officer and a Spy" in at least two planes, the first one being the story itself. I remember hearing about Dreyfus affair couple of times, first time when reading my Proust as a young man. But I did not remember the outcome of it, so the movie kept me glued to the screen. It was almost the same experience as watching "12 angry men" when I was a teenager. But Henry Fonda was playing a fictional character, and here Georges Picquart was a real hero who understood that individual justice of a single person was more important than all the pathetic words about the honor of the army or nation. It was also very interesting for me to learn about the positive involvement of Emile Zola in Dreyfus affair, which is one more reason to remember that outstanding French writer. Second plane was the portrait of Paris at the end of the XIX century. I think that it was very convincing and I enjoyed a rare glimpse into the world of some of my favorite painters, writers and composers. At the same time the film kept me aware that our own time and world was better and had more to offer. Looks to me like it was a conscious effort by Polanski and I noticed him modestly standing in a livery at the scene of chamber music concert, at the same time offering a great spectacle to movie goers. So paradoxically enough the film that is showing the pathology within French army is at the same time promoting the French culture. I disagree with people who see in "An Officer and a Spy" a reference to the controversies surrounding Roman Polanski himself. We have to remember that Polanski is a Polish Jew who survived the horrors of Holocaust. Yet when he touched the subject of anti-Semitism like here or "The Pianist" it was always in some balanced way of a person who understands that anti-Semitism is just one of many faces of human intolerance. Polanski is always slow in passing a harsh judgment in his movies, so maybe he deserves the same attitude towards himself. So to summarize for me "An Officer and a Spy" is a powerful and inspiring story set in a great city and told by the old master film director.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Dostoevskiy
(2011– )
Respectable series invaluable to someone intending to read Dostoevsky's books
24 May 2020
Respectable series with good acting and solid portrayal of 19th Russia (as far as I can judge). I wish I saw a production like that 30 or 40 years ago before reading Dostoyevsky's novels. Growing up in Poland I learned Russian at school and at some point decided to improve it, especially that I had a couple of close Russian friends and now live very close to the Eastern frontier of EU. Though I have not become an expert Russian speaker I learned enough to read many books of Russian literature in the original language, including almost all novels by Dostoevsky. I was fascinated by works like "Crime and Punishment", "The brothers Karamazov", "The Gambler" which I think are general and timeless enough to be understood by everyone. Some of Dostoevsky's novels are straightforward but weak (like "Poor folk" or "The Village of Stepanchikovo"). On the other hand I had problems with couple of well known works like "The Idiot" or "The Devils". I found fragments of them fascinating, other boring and some other fragments puzzling. The main problem was that I did not understand enough of the personality of Fyodor Dostoevsky. That knowledge would have helped me to judge those novels objectively. So this TV series was very helpful to me. I didn't realize how much Dostoevsky was preoccupied with some ideas about special predestination of Russian Orthodox Church and Russian people, which is the key for understanding some of his characters like prince Myshkin from "The Idiot". This topic is skillfully handled in "Dostoevskiy" by showing fragments of conversations of Dostoevsky with other members of Russian intelligentsia and his disputes with more open minded and cosmopolitan Ivan Turgenev. So as far as I can judge the director and writer did excellent job in trying to portray Dostoyevsky in an honest and objective way, including his addiction to gambling. The acting was good and all characters credible. Nice glimpse into the atmosphere of Russia too. Sometimes you could feel the snow and frost almost physically, though it was not oppressive and the charm of winter landscapes was shown. My appreciation and respect for all people taking part in this series. I would highly recommend it to anyone intending to read books by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Derrick
(1974–1998)
Pioneer early episodes combining crime genre with social drama
21 May 2020
Coming from neighboring Poland I had two German episodes in my life, both spanning for a couple of years. The first one was in the 80-ties. I remember "Derrick" from that period, watching it regularly together with "One Case for Two" and "Tatort" productions. It was a good entertainment and helped me to learn German. Additional attraction of "Derrick" at that time was the fact that I remembered Fritz Wepper (playing Harry Klein) from famous "Cabaret" and very exciting WW-2 drama "The River Line". After leaving Germany I always tried to remember that period of my life by regularly reading German books and watching some German productions in the original language. That way I came across the episodes from "Derrick" from the 70-ties, that simply captivated me. I started to understand why this series became popular in several countries. It offered a new approach by showing who has done it (like "Columbo"), but the most original for me was a combination of crime genre with that of social drama. Some of the episodes could have been made by famous directors of Italian, French or Czech school, but "Derrick" never got over-sentimental or boring. Those early episodes have almost the power of watching documentaries about the 70-ties. So I put "Derrick" alongside my other favorite crime TV series like "Columbo", "Taggart" or "Wallander".
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