With Fire and Sword (film)

Infobox_Film
name = With Fire and Sword


imdb_id = 0128378
producer = Jerzy Frykowski, Jerzy Hoffman, Jerzy R. Michaluk
director = Jerzy Hoffman
writer = Jerzy Hoffman, Andrzej Krakowski
starring = Izabella Scorupco, Michał Żebrowski, Aleksandr Domogarov
music = Krzesimir Debski
cinematography = Grzegorz Kedzierski
editing = Marcin Bastkowski, Cezary Grzesiuk
released = 1999
runtime = 175 min.
language = Polish, Ukrainian

"With Fire and Sword" is the English title of the Polish film "Ogniem i Mieczem", a historical drama directed by Jerzy Hoffman, released in 1999. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Plot

The story is set in Poland and Ukraine of the 17th century during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. While the book on which the film is based was written from a strongly Polish nationalist point of view, Fact|date=July 2008 as were earlier film versions, the present one is noted in trying to present a more complex depiction of the Ukraninian rebel leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky - a national hero to Ukrainians, but often a villain in Polish eyes (and even more so to Jews). See Bohdan Khmelnytsky#Controversies.

Criticism

The movie has been criticized for introducing some factual inaccuracies. [http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/YellowWaters.htm Battle of Yellow Waters (Żółte Wody), 1648] ] One of the least accurate sections of the film is Hoffman's presentation of the first battle between the Poles and the Cossacks - the Battle of Żółte Wody. The movie suggests that the Poles were quickly routed by Cossacks and the Polish elite cavalry (husaria) showed needless bravado in the face of unfavorable weather conditions. In reality, the Poles were not only greatly outnumbered, especially after they were deserted by all the Cossacks who had switched sides and joined Bohdan Khmelnytsky, but also their commander, hetman Stefan Potocki, was only 24 years old; despite that the battle, though eventually lost by the Poles, lasted for nearly three weeks.

Though the book is deemed by some to be nationalistic and Ukrainophobic, the movie has been praised for its depiction of Ukraine and Ukrainians as "vivid rather than monochromatic; they are multi-dimensional, eliciting more than one feeling of, say, fascination or dislike". [Yuri Shevchuk. "With Fire and Sword" depicts Kozak war against Poland" The Ukrainian Weekly. May 23, 1999.]

The director was aware of the controversies and criticism. He was quoted as saying:"Sienkiewicz's book is still considered anti-Ukrainian by some Ukrainians. I understand that problem, but when I was in Kiev at a conference of Ukrainian intellectuals ... many people with whom I spoke had read the novel closely and they quoted whole passages where Sienkiewicz criticised the Polish nobles as strongly as the Cossacks. For both sides it was clear that the result of this tragic conflict was the eventual demise of both the Commonwealth and the Sich. I am well aware that the film may agitate those in Ukraine who blame everything on the Poles, and in Poland those who blame all that was bad on the Ukrainians. My film will certainly not convince any radicals. ... My film finishes with the final words of Sienkiewicz's novel: "Hatred poisoned the hearts of two brother nations". [ [http://www.sciagawa.pl/a/352.html | Literatura a film. Adaptacje i ekranizacje dzieł lieratury.] ]

Trivia

* At the time it was filmed, the film was the most expensive Polish film ever made (since surpassed by "Quo Vadis", 2001).
* Although the novel is the first part of the Trilogy, the film was the last part of Hoffman's version of the trilogy to be made, following "The Deluge", which was filmed in 1974, and "Colonel Wolodyjowski", which was filmed in 1969.

Cast

* Izabella Scorupco as Helena Kurcewiczówna
* Michał Żebrowski as Jan Skrzetuski
* Aleksandr Domogarov as Jurko Bohun
* Krzysztof Kowalewski as Jan Onufry Zagłoba
* Bohdan Stupka as Bohdan Khmelnytsky
* Andrzej Seweryn as Jeremi Wiśniowiecki
* Zbigniew Zamachowski as Michał Wołodyjowski
* Wiktor Zborowski as Longinus Podbipięta
* Daniel Olbrychski as Toğay bey (Tuhaj Bej)
* Marek Kondrat as Jan II Kazimierz
* Wojciech Malajkat as Rzędzian
* Ewa Wisniewska as Kurcewiczówna
* Ruslana Pysanka as Horpyna
* Gustaw Holoubek as Adam Kisiel
* Andrzej Kopiczynski as Zacwilichówski
* Maciej Kozlowski as Maxym Kryvonis
* Adam Ferency as İslâm III Giray
* Gustaw Lutkiewicz as Yakiv Barabash
* Dmitri Mirgorodsky as Koshovy Ataman
* Jerzy Bonczak as Daniel Czapliński
* Krzysztof Gosztyla as Jerzy Ossoliński
* Szymon Kobylinski as Mikołaj Ostroróg

ee also

* "The Deluge"
* "Colonel Wolodyjowski"
* Bohdan Khmelnytsky#Controversies

References

External links

* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0128378/ IMDB entry]
* [http://www.ogniem-i-mieczem.pl/english/film.htm Official website (in English)]