Richard Brzostek - 04/09/2009 
Colonel Kwiatkowski (Pulkownik Kwiatkowski) is a comedy about a con-artist in the time period just after World War II, when Poland was dealing with partisan uprisings and the changes the Soviets were putting in place. Although some people may have welcomed communism, a great deal of the people accepted it at gunpoint and didn't have much a choice in the matter.
Andrzej Kwiatkowski (Marek Kondrat) is reluctantly in the Polish army as a surgeon but his medical training is in gynecology. He is given a leave of absence to visit his fiancé, but he really isn't even engaged and talks his way into a vacation to visit the ruins that were Warsaw. When there, he meets a young woman that was his neighbor. They make a bet that will change both of their lives: if he can free a young man from prison, she will marry him; if he can't, they will part ways. Kwiatkowski pulls off this stunt by pretending to be a high-ranking UB officer. Kwiatkowski grows an entourage that pretends to be his staff but they are really a group of deserters in his pay.
At first, Kwiatkowski employs the scheme to impress a woman but then his motivation becomes helping people. He turns into a "robin hood" type of guy helping both the people and the country. Although Kwiatkowski detests the military, he finds pretending to be a high-ranking officer as a way to get what he wants and a way to stand up to the Soviets. I think part of the appeal for this type of movie lies in the confidence game it shows. The suspense builds as Kwiatkowski keeps pushing his luck to greater and greater limits. The film was made in 1995, six years after the end of communism in Poland and it probably would never have been allowed to be made earlier. Although it isn't harshly critical of the Soviets, anything broaching criticism was usually not taken well.
Colonel Kwiatkowski is directed by Kazimierz Kutz. I am familiar with a couple of his other films such as Heat (Upal; 1964) and The Breads of One Rosary (Paciorki Jednego Rozanca; 1980) and have to say he has a lot of talent. Perhaps part of the reason why Colonel Kwiatkowski gained popularity is because the film has a patriotic element to it - it is a story of people who are looking out for the good of Poland and its people. |
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