Janosik [DVD] (2009)

This is a 2009 film from Agnieszka Holland (`The Killing', `The Wire' and `Washington Square to name but a few) she is a Polish film and TV producer and seemed like the right choice for this subject. Juraj or George Janosik was the Robin Hood of central eighteenth century Europe. Well he worked in the areas around Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, and did that robbing from the rich and sometimes giving to the poor. He is very well known in folklore as he is seen as a common man who stood up to the injustices of a Europe ravaged by the greed of the Habsburgs and the concomitant wars that it gave birth to. He was fighting at fifteen but got caught by the Habsburgs and was pressed into service for them, where he learnt all sorts that would help him in his later career.

After being bought out of servitude he decided that being a shepherd was not exactly the pinnacle of excitement, so when he was offered the chance to become a brigand and get to rob rich folk, he leapt at the chance. This film follows his tales and stories and sticks pretty much close to the accepted facts, but as there is so much folklore and myth, it really has to remain a moot point.

So is it any good, well I found it a bit drawn out, the action is sporadic and often done very well, but a lot of the 150 minute film is used to draw on the machinations and domesticity of the main players, so we have lots of bedroom grunting, followed by a bit of banditry, then some soul searching, and some more gentleman's excuse me then some robbery, drinking etc. We also get a dollop of witchcraft, some infanticide weird dream sequences and a smattering of popery. This was a co-production that was part financed by HBO Europe and as such I had high hope. I did watch in two sittings which means it could have broken the momentum, but I don't think so. There are some very good performances here and it was filmed on location so has a real feel of authenticity and attention to period detail but could still have been better. On the other hand I knew next to nothing about this character from history and the Robin Hood thing is a bit misleading as I did not see too much philanthropy, more of an opportunistic but likeable rogue hence the rating. He also doesn't wear tights or have a goatee so nothing like the aforementioned Hood. But for some well made if a tad pedestrian folklore history from Poland this might be spot on for you.

Juro Janosik was a real-life bandit in Central Europe in the early 1700s, whose short and tragic career subsequently passed into legend; do a Google search and you will find all sort of cultural artifacts about Janosik, such as comic books and TV shows. Thus he is sometimes compared to Robin Hood.

The makers of this film decided to do a realistic approach to the story, but still offer a few fabulous elements in the form of dream sequences. The result does not romanticize Janosik, but the sheer beauty of the landscapes, the recurrent eroticism, and the haunting music serve to create a lush and lyrical atmosphere, at least until the very grim ending.

Presumably authentic ethnographic details (costumes, weddings, funerals and other rituals, as well as the widespread belief in magical spells) give the story an exotic atmosphere. The phenomenon of banditry under a repressive regime, eliciting the sympathy of the populace and the cruel retribution of those in power, is intelligently portrayed.

The storytelling seems overly elliptical at times; characters appear and vanish without the viewer quite knowing who they are. (But nor does Janosik, who literally cannot name all of his fellow brigands when questioned by the authorities.) I have noticed that this is often the result when a Euro TV series is cut down to feature film length, but I don't know if that's the case here.

While JANOSIK will not be to all tastes, this is by no means one of those horrible Euro historical movies we have encountered in recent years, which are so ineptly made they should never have been released; this is a serious film made by a very talented director (Agnieszka Holland, here working with her daughter, Kasia Adamik).

A word about this particular DVD edition (Goodfellas, Region 2, ASIN: B00744BICE): The packaging is a bit misleading, because all the images show Michael Zebrowski, who does NOT play Janosik, but only a supporting role. That's probably just due to the DVD company's incompetence, but you would think they would at least know who the actual star of the movie is. Also, there are no extras, and this film could have used some, to explain the setting (the spectacular Tatra Mountains) and the cultural history of Janosik for viewers who do not know it. But the actual quality of the DVD is fine.

True stories are seldom, if ever actually remotely close to the truth in the 'and pigs might fly' world of cinema. This one is based on the life of the true character Juro Janosik who together with a few unruly mates terrorised a region on the Polish Slovak border. The hype describes him as a legendary "Central European Robin Hood". Call me a doubting Thomas but I suspect neither Robin Hood or Juro Janosik gave away all their dishonestly won earnings to the poor. They would be laughed out of any jolly bandit fraternity. Not that any of this makes a blind bit of difference to making a rattling good yarn. This one has some beautiful cinematography up in the gorgeous Tatras mountains where our merry men go about their trade of robbing and pillaging fat rich blokes. And a very nice area it is to go about such an unpleasant business! It was in this general area that Janosik himself plied his briefly lucrative trade. We see quite a bit of robbing the rich and carousing with the womenfolk. At times one of the dance scenes reminded me of something out of a Michael Cimino or John Ford film. One of the characters was a dead ringer for the long dead Irish actor Stephen Boyd. Weird!! There is also some pretty gory torture stuff that was a lot like "Braveheart". They had some imaginative ways of putting people to death in central Europe back in the early 1700s when it was set, I mean you only have to look at what Vlad the impaler got up to?

Sadly despite the many years the film took in production it huffs and puffs but fails to deliver much, apart from good costumes and decent cinematography. At 150 minutes it becomes excruciatingly long. I am once again reminded of Cimino's self indulgent habit of dealing in depth with peripheral matters. The lives and loves of the robbers are put under the microscope and it is in truth not that interesting. There does not seem to be any satisfying conclusion aside from the obvious 'crime doesn't pay'. Director Agnieszka Holland with the help of her daughter Kasia Adamek have not managed to approach the excellent work Holland did recently with "In Darkness", a very decent Polish Second World War film. The film has gone down the 'lets show it as it was', rather than the swashbuckling Hollywood style of "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves". Both approaches can work, but as this one seemed as flat as a pancake a little bit more swashing and buckling might have helped its cause. It all seems a bit fragmented at times as if the film has been cut from a mega TV miniseries. Often a problem with overlong films! Apparently According to the film Janosik was such a decent guy he never killed anyone. Even Errol Flynn managed plenty of that as the dashing Robin Hood of yore! It's a rather long 150 minutes folks!