The Polish Bride (1998)

Load of rubbish!!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Dear Karim Traidia,The Polish Bride is a very touching love story of two lonely people. It is a great study of a relationship in a rural setting. While there is a crime element, that is not really the crucial part of the film. In fact, the crime aspect was a bit of an aberration.A beaten up prostitute arrives at the house of a Dutch farmer. He takes her in and their relationship develops as she intrudes into his lonely existence. You said a lot of things very subtly, Karim. The revival of the lonely farmer's life after the prostitute enters his space. Maybe a comment on the breakdown of the family in Europe? The farmer's sadness about the destruction of the old ways of life when you could live off the land (that beautiful spoken word song with a simple piano foregrounded this theme). Trafficking and ill-treatment of beautiful Polish women.The dialogs are sparse because they don't speak the same language. This perfectly complements the tranquil mood of the film. I loved the way some of the scenes were framed. Like when the couple are sitting apart in the front room. The door in the middle of the frame is slightly open. You can see the trees swaying in the wind through the open door. There were so many beautiful shots of the pastoral setting. It really is a beautiful and idyllic film.Best Regards, Pimpin.(8/10)

It's not a movie with many spoken lines in it. After all the two main characters hardly speak the same language. The movie allows its images to mostly tell the entire story. I sort of always like this, since after all that's also how movies were intended to be in the first place. The great camera-work and compositions of course help with this. It also makes the movie a slow going one but this works beautiful and effective for the movie its story and storytelling. Still, because the movie is rather short, it tends to rush things a little, especially toward the end. It's also the reason why the movie ends sort of on a false note.This movie is a real character movie. Almost the entire movie focuses purely on just the two main characters. The characters don't explain anything to each other about how and what. They just accept things as they are and don't look back, even though the both of them, as implied, had issues in the past. They are definitely not at love at first but they also most certainly don't hate each other. They slowly and steadily grow- and open up toward each other and also learn from each other, in many different ways. It doesn't make this movie 'just' another unusual love-story but something that goes deeper and therefor also gets more effectively shown on the screen.The movie gives a good portrayal of the farm life and the empty flat real peaceful nature. I think it's a real missed opportunity from Dutch film-makers to not shoot more movies there. It's cheap to make, also since you don't have to close down any roads or shops or stuff like that and it's of course beautiful looking, which really gives the movie a lot of atmosphere without having to manipulate or set up anything. And abroad, people always seem to like these type of movies and these movies, with this kind of atmosphere, have a fair chance at the international market and festivals. After all, this movie even received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film.I never thought I would hear an Ede Staal song in a Dutch, or just any movie. Ede Staal and his music are unmistakably connected to the entire province of Groningen. His songs are often about the province and they perfectly capture the life, feeling and atmosphere of the province. So, one of his most famous songs 't Hogelaand' totally fits within the movie, captures its atmosphere and what it tries to tell.Jaap Spijkers is a good actor, although I admit that he is a better actor now then he used to be 10 years ago, at the time of this movie. Or perhaps it's just that he isn't really the sort of actor for the leading type of roles. Same goes for Monic Hendrickx by the way, who at the time still was a rookie in the movie business. He did a fairly good job with his accent, although people who are actually not from Groningen but play a Groninger character always tend to make the accent sound way too thick.The movie is about some relevant issues, such as Polish woman being forced to work in the prostitution in Western countries, the hard financial situation and time for Dutch farmers and the slinking population, amount farms and shops in the rural areas.The movie is currently getting an Australian treatment as well, named "Unfinished Sky", again with Monic Hendrickx in the same role. The story will probably work the same but will the atmosphere as well? Doubtful, which is a negative thing, since it mostly was the atmosphere that carried the movie and almost entirely told the movie its story and emotions.A really great and also certainly unique and a one of a kind movie. The Australian version won't change that.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I've seen this movie on an open-air festival in Deurne.It was raining a bit but none of the visitors stood up and walked away. The characters in this movie seem so real. There's such a big tension in this movie. Tension between the Anna and her pimp. Tension between the farmer and Anna. The two characters seem to have a struggle within themselves, which makes what happens in the end inevitable.

A lonely farmer falls in love with a woman who literally falls into his life. I knew what was going to happen, as would anyone who's ever been to the movies before, but I was riveted by the journey to the inevitable conclusion, and that's what made this film so enjoyable. Only one element mars the believability of this love story, and you'll know it when you see it.