Starring: Bogusław Linda, Piotr Stramowski, Maja Ostaszewska, Andrzej Grabowski
Directed by: Patryk Vega
Rating: ★★★★☆
Patryk Vega is as good as Martin Scorsese in regard to the use of profanity in his poliziottesco-esque films. Nonetheless, despite the lack of existentialist undertones, his oeuvre both on big screen and small has certainly more in common with Władysław Pasikowski’s earlier movies. As most master craftsmen do, Vega displays dexterity in reusing the good, bad, and ugly characters from his most successful crime franchise.
Pitbull Nowe porządki (Pitbull New Order) narrates the waxing and waning of the “Grupa Mokotowska” gang, as reported in the local news stories from a decade ago. The Mokotów district in Warsaw is the hot spot in the picture, but the Polish cineaste manages to sound Poland’s capital out moving the camera from one neighbourhood to another. The lives of the virtuous cop “Majami” (Piotr Stramowski) assigned to a police department corrupted to the core, and of his criminal nemesis “Babcia” (Bogusław Linda) – the Polish word for “grandmother” – are destined to cross. Vega reenacts the by-gone world of Polish mafia during the conflict Pruszków and Wołomin groups before crime would become more and more an invisible network of power controlled by impeccably dressed men seasoned in finance.
Linda delivers a charismatic performance as the top dog of his clan made of petty mobsters avid for protection money and amateurish but ruthless kidnappers. But most importantly Vega’s picture offers respectable doses of adrenaline to the viewers. Pitbull New Order deserves to be screened in Beaune-like thriller film festivals around the globe and decent distribution in Central European theatres alike.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on March 18, 2016