Starring: Bartosz Bielenia, Jason Mitchell, Jacek Braciak, Robert Więckiewicz
Directed by: Paweł Maślona
Rating: ★★★★☆
It was high time that Polish made a film on one of the less exploited national heroes on the big screen. General Tadeusz ‘Kos’ Kosciuszko fought in the American War of Independence before leading an unsuccessful uprising in 1794 to set his native land free from the yoke of Russian Empire. The most recent film devoted to Kos was released before the outbreak of the Second World War. Kosciuszko (1938), directed Józef Lejtes, is centred around the famous battle of Racławice in which he led the Polish-Lithuanian troops to a fleeting victory.
More than eighty years later, second-time director Paweł Maślona and rookie screenwriter Michał Zieliński fashioned an atypical biopic on the General focused on his attempt to engage the nobility and peasants alike in the insurrection. Mercifully for the audience, in Kos (Scarborn) they decided to sacrifice historical accuracy and epic battle scenes for the sake of shaping an entertaining film focused on a handful of intense roles.
Ignac (Bartosz Bielenia) is a noble bastard, who enters a race against the clock to reach Cracow and meet a notary that would confirm his aristocratic lineage. Domingo (Jason Mitchell), instead, is a Django-like figure and former slave that follows Kos (Jacek Braciak) in the General’s homeland to prepare the uprising against the Russians. Serfdom in Europe and American slavery are not the same but Ignac and Domingo, who both bear the marks of oppression on their bodies, are bound by a mutual sympathy.
While the figure of Kościuszko’s valet Domingo really existed, Russian cavalry captain Dunin (superbly played by Robert Więckiewicz) is a fictitious character. Dunin, who wants to capture Kos and thus nip in the bud the planned revolt, is the perfect bad sheriff that had been missing until now from Polish cinema. Scarborn has a “Western movie” je ne sais quoi which is visually confirmed by Piotr Sobociński Jr.’s splendid cinematography.
Maślona’s engrossing and Tarantino-esque tale of revenge and emancipation features more slashes than gunshots. It also puts in the spotlight the decadence of the local aristocracy ahead of the Third Partition of Poland which led to the dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. The candle-lit card game sequence, in which the main characters gamble away their weapons, is worth alone the price of admission. Scarborn won the Golden Lion award for best film at Gdynia film festival.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on February 21, 2024