There is a scene at the beginning of this motion picture when one of the leading characters says that he had made a vow. A vow that he would remain virgin until he cuts three heads with one move of the sword. When you hear that, you know what you can expect. Is good to see a European movie which is directed perfectly, a spectacle with many action scenes, excellent actors and three hours in it's running time, is good to. But hey, people, where is the plot, where are the characters?! Oh, gee, I knew we forgot something!
So, what's wrong? First, the plot. Story of battles between Cossacs and Polish in 15th century and a love story put there in the middle. All right, we know that all sides hate their enemies, but it's nothing new. My country was in war till five years ago, I know that war is awful, but `With fire and sword' is not an anti-war movie. Oh, no, and this is its second and biggest problem. Our `heroes' are introduced at the beginning of the movie, they are all nice & courageous and they fight against Cossacs and Turkish. And what do they do? They kill everyone, they torture, they act exactly like their enemies. So why should I trust them? They don't feel even a bit of pity, a bit of remorse, they don't have a single doubt about that if they should fight and kill. They go, they fight, they kill - and there are rivers of blood running on the screen. Cossacs and Turkish are shown like beasts, most of them are gays and there is even a sort of witch-lesbian(!) Our `heroes' are perfectly straight, they have even a beautiful Izabella Scorupco on their side, and they cut heads with sadistic pleasure. And they don't consider another option. Not even for a moment.
Is that the message of the movie?
So, what's wrong? First, the plot. Story of battles between Cossacs and Polish in 15th century and a love story put there in the middle. All right, we know that all sides hate their enemies, but it's nothing new. My country was in war till five years ago, I know that war is awful, but `With fire and sword' is not an anti-war movie. Oh, no, and this is its second and biggest problem. Our `heroes' are introduced at the beginning of the movie, they are all nice & courageous and they fight against Cossacs and Turkish. And what do they do? They kill everyone, they torture, they act exactly like their enemies. So why should I trust them? They don't feel even a bit of pity, a bit of remorse, they don't have a single doubt about that if they should fight and kill. They go, they fight, they kill - and there are rivers of blood running on the screen. Cossacs and Turkish are shown like beasts, most of them are gays and there is even a sort of witch-lesbian(!) Our `heroes' are perfectly straight, they have even a beautiful Izabella Scorupco on their side, and they cut heads with sadistic pleasure. And they don't consider another option. Not even for a moment.
Is that the message of the movie?