The Polish are doing it right

Yesterday I watched an animated Polish movie called The Peasants. The movie was an oil painting animation completed by over 100 painters. The production company suffered through COVID and the invasion of Ukraine to deliver their art to us.

And when Sony distributed this film to North America via a limited theatrical release in 2023, I missed it.

It was on my radar as I was scrolling through my theatre app looking for a show time but my schedule just couldn’t work it in there. It immediately caught my eye with its evocative poster and beautiful animation. The kind of film you want to see on a big screen, with the music blaring at you.

Towards the end of 2023, the film dipped my mind just like it did theatres. By then my attention was drawn to another painting of a movie, Poor Things, but we can talk about that some other day.

What’s important is that I forgot about this movie completely until just two days ago when I caught that poster again on my library app. It caught me like that familiar turn your parent’s car makes near your street. The glimpse of a face you sit next to for years in school but never see anymore. Like a gambler in a shark tank, I’ve never borrowed anything faster.

Evocative is the most expressive word I can use to describe this film. What it’s evocative of, I can think of nothing and yet there is no end to the answers. It’s a rare movie that can feel like a claw gripping your heart. I was glued to the screen like a moth to a light. My eyebrows have never been narrower.

I love animated movies that show you the power of animation. At a time when animation is still thought of as ‘for children’ or “cartoons”, I think artists have a power in showing you something that is unconstrained. This only fuels my dispassion for animated movies that don’t make use of its medium. Movies that don’t understand or want to utilize the power of creativity you get from animation. Compare The Lion King (2019) and the recent Mufasa movie with the original Lion King and you can clearly see what I’m talking about. The difference between artistry and a soulless gimmick.

Films like the recent Spiderverse movies bring more emotion on a screen through colours and palettes that are just not possible in the real world. There are scenes in The Peasants with backdrops that are jaw dropping. Every image is dynamic and feels loved. The lines of shadow on Antek’s face as he processes his emotions. The pain in Jagna’s eyes. The hint of a smirk or a smile. The darkness of the clouds, the dripping rain. Every brush stroke has purpose.

There are quite a few dance sequences in this movie. Apparently these were some of the most challenging sequences for the painters as they had to work with moving images of the actors dancing and had to recreate that fluid motion with the help of VFX. It doesn’t just work, it works well. You can see every line of emotion on the character’s faces even when they are dancing. The music with its mix of traditional Polish and digital beats grab you like hands coming out of a mirror.

I’m humming the soundtrack to myself as I write this. The traditional Polish folk instrumentals remind me a lot of The Witcher 3 video game, another Polish production. The haunting lamentations coupled with Central European cottage core leaves you with an emotion that I can only call happy/sad. Happy/sad is also the name of the Spotify playlist I’ve made with music that makes me feel this way.

Watch this movie. This is not a recommendation or a review. It’s an itch I want to scratch because I feel like I can’t do anything productive without telling people about my experience with this film.