ILLUMINATION (ILUMINACJA)(director/writer: Krzysztof Zanussi; cinematographer: Edward Klosinski; cast: Stanislaw Latallo (Franciszek), Monika Denisiewicz-Olbrychska (Agnieszka), Malgorzata Pritulak (Malgorzata), Edward Zebrowski, Jan Skotnicki, 1973-Poland)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Quick-stop editing, leaving the scene before it is fully developed, both inhibit and enhance the quality of this meditative film, based on a Polish student in his twenties (Stanislaw Latallo), who questions life in the '60s, while studying physics as a college student. He achieves his doctorate several years later and is also diagnosed with a fatal heart condition and is by that time not overly depressed by the prospects of death, as he turns more philosophical about life.
He goes through his first romance with an older woman (Denisiewicz-Olbrychska) and then is rejected, marries someone else (Malgorzata Pritulak), has a son, watches as a close friend dies, feels restless, becomes financially insecure, is searching for something meaningful in his life, and watches as his marriage turns sour. He then seeks religion but comes back to his wife and a career in science, pretty much sums up the plot of this very difficult but easily recognizable quest by many students all over the world in the '60s. The student grows up when he realizes it is almost impossible to ask for absolute answers, as he says, even the great Eisenstein had to abandon that aim.
When he accepts full responsibility for his life and tries to become economically secure, his life changes, it, strangely enough, becomes limited, as his imagination can no longer run free.
The concept of illumination, whence the title of the film comes from, refers to St. Augustine's theory of enlightenment. It is what fills the mind with light; it is a spiritual happening that is the most powerful thing in the world.
The hero is likable, somewhat courageous and scholarly, a person of integrity and loyalty, and is the only hope for Poland's future. This is a glum film, but intellectually sound, offering many pleasurable introspective moments, but lacking in real illumination, which prevents it from being a great film. The director, a student of science himself, seems to be under the impression that the person of science is the most interesting person in the world because he holds the key to knowledge. That is certainly an arguable statement, as even the protagonist in the story eventually realizes not everything can be settled by rational arguments.
REVIEWED ON 1/28/99 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews