52. Psy3. w imię zasad; movie review

PSY3. W IMIĘ ZASAD
Cert 15
126 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, sexual violence references, sex, sex references, language

Friday evening at 10pm and I just managed to beat the traffic coming out of Derby County's match to reach Odeon in time for another gritty Polish drama.
My complaint against Polish cinema is that its films, or at least those released in Britain, tend to trot down the same road.
Their focus is very often gangsters, corrupt politicians or bent cops as in the case in Wladyslaw Pasikowski's Psy3. W Imię Zasad.
It focuses on the departure from jail of a former police hard-nut (Boguslaw Linda) who is seeking money and revenge following a 'job' 25 years earlier.
He finds a very different Poland that one he left behind but still has a thirst for blood so gets stuck in when the son of his friend (Cezary Pazura) is kidnapped.
The search for the young man is not taken seriously by police who become suspects themselves.
Marcin Dorocinski stars as a rare honest cop who finds himself on the trail of lawbreakers who were either former or current officers,
Tomasz Schuchardt plays the most ruthless of the present-day police who don't believe that the rules apply to them.
Apologies to those who may think I am generalising but in all of the Polish thrillers I have seen (and that's quite a few), the corruption is complemented by uncompromising violence and women who get their clothes off.
So, it was of no surprise that Psy3. W Imię Zasad ticks all of the boxes. There are torture scenes which had me writhing in my Odeon recliner and Dominika Walo is the lass who does the naked bed gymnastics.
But just in case the crowd wasn't satisfied with her efforts, there are a few bare breasts during a strip club scene.
Otherwise, it is as if women are an endangered species.
Indeed, for me, Pasikowski's movie is just too macho - lots of blokes making out they are tougher than the next along.
The young try to outdo the old and vice versa, special forces and an ex-cop have a similar willy-size comparison contest and on and on.
For me, it was all pretty charmless but I have to accept that, as a non-native speaker I might have been missing a crucial nuance in the language.
Certainly, it attracted a very busy audience at 10pm on a Friday night so they might well have been seeing something which I didn't.

Reasons to watch: A Polish gangster film innit
Reasons to avoid: Seen its ilk too often

Laughs: A couple of chuckles
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Did you know? Director Wladyslaw Pasikowski is also the author of an award-winning science fiction novel Ja, Gelerth.

The final word: Wladyslaw Pasikowski: "After 25 years, the situation changed but the most important thing was to keep talking about real people and real characters in that new situation."

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