Directed by:
Ewa BukowskaScreenplay:
Ewa BukowskaCinematography:
Tomasz NaumiukComposer:
Natalia FiedorczukCast:
Magdalena Poplawska, Michal Zurawski, Krzysztof Stroinski, Dorota Kolak, Kinga Preis, Miroslaw Haniszewski, Beata Schimscheiner, Oleg Bakhrutdinov (more)Plots(1)
War correspondent Witek is away most of the time, and Anka must endure the horrors of war from home. The testimonies Witek passes on to the world feed Anka’s solitude and the catastrophic visions that fill her uneasy mind. And, as it transpires, the border between reality and fantasy is extremely fragile. In her directorial debut actress Ewa Bukowska based her work on the autobiographical novel by Grażyna Jagielska, in the process adeptly avoiding the pitfalls of slavish film adaptations. The non-linear story, the visual quality of the image, and the character acting of Magdalena Popławska render 53 Wars an evocative psychological drama about experiencing war second-hand: we don’t have to be there for it to have a destructive influence on our lives. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Reviews (1)
A striking portrayal of post-traumatic stress disorder. The main character spirals deeper into depression and anxiety, which keep escalating with no end in sight. The cause? Her husband, a war correspondent, constantly hops from one conflict zone to another, oblivious to how his absences are shattering his wife's psyche. Anna's biggest issue is her unwavering love for him and the constant fear for his life. This fear consumes her, pulling her into a dark abyss where normal functioning becomes impossible, making a stay in a psychiatric ward inevitable. It gets to the point where she thinks it might be easier if he just died, allowing her to move on rather than being stuck in perpetual dread. The film has a concise runtime and tackles a deeply intriguing subject with high-quality execution. It's heavy and specific, making it a bit hard to digest, but it's definitely worth watching — especially for Magdalena Popławska's outstanding performance.
()