The Peasants

The Peasants-720P

The Peasants-360P

The Peasants

The animation takes us in a dreamy adventure across seasons in rural Poland, showing us customs, traditions, woman's condition, people's lives and struggles, love affairs and political dynamics. Main character, Jagna, is a very dreamy and creative young woman, starting to explore life and the world. She likes crafting, singing, she is also kind hearted. Unfortunately, 19 century Poland is a highly patriarchal society,in which women are expected to marry and build a household, have children and work the land. The love for land is one of the main themes of the film, uniting but also ruining families. One of the opening scenes portratys village life at an important moment in time: after church service. People gather up in groups and gossip about village life. A group of women suggest Jagna that is time for her to find a man, portraying the main social norm at that time. Jagna says she is not interested yet in marriage, positioning herself as a free spirit woman since the begining. Boryna, the main "gospodar" of the village, has a lot of land and wealth, he is a hard working man, severe, greedy and influent. By his relationship with his sons and daughters we get to see the dynamics in rural families, also a very important rule: land and wealth is inherited and people value their weight in owned land. Boryna's decision to marry Jagna arouses unrest in the gospodar's family, the decision making Jagna a heiress too. Jagna, being the free spirited archetype, is not keen in marrying Boryna, but her mother, who probably already experienced the hardships of life, forces her and even negotiates more land on Jagna's name. The marriage scene, and all the scenes that involved dancing, were my favourites. During the dance scenes people forgot all their hardships, overcome everydayness and almost escape reality, reaching mystical realm. We also get too see other customs and traditions: people harvesting fields, church services, feasts,holiday disguising. Also I loved the soundtrack, is "a compendium of Slavic music created by almost 100 musicians from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus". Another key figure is Boryna's son, Antek, heir of Boryna's land, father of two, husband of Hanka, but in love with Jagna even before his father's marriage. Antek's life goes on a downspiral while he pursues this love, ending up failing his family, and failing both Hanka and Jagna multiple times. People from the village form a collective character whos values are often questionable and whos mentality is highly traditional. All characters in the film end up failing Jagna, which leads to her tragic destiny. 10/10.

A lot of the shots are framed in a way that compliments nicely the animation style, perfectly looking like moving paintings, tho the editing and pacing made the film's structure lackluster. There's lots of movement around plenty of beautiful sceneries, but all of it just serves the visuals and in no way tends to the narrative, which I found to be really basic, and without any real emotional complexity. Throughout the story there's an increasing pressure choking the life out of the main character, giving weight to her dire situation, except every scene lack subtlety, each with clear goals way too clearly explained to us then restated. It's a 'burn the witch' type flick that doesn't really go beyond what's on the surface, and with a two-hour runtime its admittedly lush painted style does way too much heavy lifting.

Attended this screening at Gothenburg Film Festival. After watching Loving Vincent that I love very much I just had to watch this one from the same team. I didn't even watch any trailers to not be spoiled of the art technique and oh boy was I blown away from the very first second. I had goosebumps for almost the whole time which is very rare. I don't understand the Academy Award Jury for not nominating this. It's a masterpiece in every sense. Most of the cast is new to me although I've seen many Polish films. Kamila Urzedowska is extraordinary and could be Margot Robbie's sister. It was a delight to see Miroslav Baka who was phenomenal in A Short Film About Killing from 1988.

This film is worth watching primarily for the artistic work. I believe that it would not have been so attractive if it had been made using ordinary techniques. It should be said that the film is Polish, as far as the cast and authors are concerned, but as far as the work on animation and drawing is concerned, it is absolutely Serbian and a lot of people worked on it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I've been told. Anyway, it deserves to be awarded in every sense, because the idea is fantastic! The topic is always relevant, anywhere, whether in the village or at the court, at that time, and even now.

My take is not yet another "tale of young woman breaking bonds and social..." thing. The "young woman" narrative is a red herring, in my opinion. It misses the point. Every charactet in this amazing feat of acting, art, and production is us. We are all "peasants", more or less. That reflects the soul of the early 20th century book by Raymont. From the snarling biddies, to the destructive frustrated son of the rich landowner, to Jagna, all are laboring under the peasant burden of delusion and superstition. Some do so nobly, others make their mission that of violently curating and exorcising a scapegoat.

Just Got out of a The Peasants Screening. It was a Beautiful Watch and I Loved the Story. I loved that old time style of doing things. 🎨 I'll admit, the Oil Painting Colour Cinematography and Pure Artistic Aesthetic Elevated this Film Significantly. Take away the Sheer Artistic Cinematography and it's still an Interesting Story but the Aesthetic definitely Elevates it Drastically. Elements of the Film - 1. 📜 The Plotline, it's a plot of a Strong Man Farmer that wanted one of the top Beautiful Women of the Village, but of course, Complications ensue. It also had Subplots of Land being passed down or divided, and also land being marked and cut down, other things in the mix were Sexual Relations, Punishments, Gossip, Dancing, War, Dowries & Marriage. 2. 🎨 Again, The Oil Painting Colour Aesthetic, it Significantly elevated absolutely everything about the Film. I was sitting there and it was a Constantly Refreshing Watch. There's so many Shots that were Just Gorgeous on the Eye. 3a.💖 The Main Girl Jagna had this Beautiful Pleasantness about Her. 3b.💚 I loved Hankas performance too, she was that kind of woman from back then that would be so good to have as a Partner. And I loved that she's Blessed in the End. 🌠 3c. 💪That big strong guy was brutal, someone you would want in the village to Work and Protect the Village, but man, he was too much sometimes 😂. 3d. 💰 The Father, look, he had the Riches, ultimately he held the power, even if that ment Unwanted Marriage by the Other Party. 4. 🎵 The Score was Beautiful at Times. 5. 🌞 ☔ 🌿🗻I love the 4 Season layout of the film 6. The Summary - Jagna Is Described as Holy Soil by the Big Strong Man, but due to the Sheer amount of Problems she causes the Village, and also a refusal to go to confession, she is then Scourged and Dirt is Thrown upon her, but in the End, God Still Forgives Jagna⚡💕, By Raining On Her to Wash Her Dirt Away 💌 Overall, a once in a Lifetime Watch.

My expectations were shattered. We left the cinema talking about it for a long time! Although the art style is beautiful, the way the characters and story is portrayed is also great. It's not easy adapting a 1,000 page novel series into a film, particularly when it has a lot to live up to. It really captures the mentality of people back then, especially in regards to the book. Some scenes show how crude and animalistic these people were. There are some things that are missed out but you can't expect everything with an adaptation. One of these is the way Jagna is more sensitive to nature, a bit more rebellious as well. However, i suspect this has to do with garnering at least a bit of empathy for her character as after all, if you can't sympathise with the main character of a movie, then it is harder for the character depth to be carried across. Some other things are how Hanka gained Boryn's trust with the money and how Jagna's mother really wanted to 'sell' her. I must say the design and costume are one of a kind, though. Overall some things are different from the original but they make it work really well to create a great Polish film. A masterpiece!