The Film Movement October 2017 Blu-ray release of the 2016 biopic "Afterimage" is an ideal melding of the traditional Movement releases of fictional foreign art house films and the release of fascinating documentaries of real-life individuals through a new partnership with Bond 360. Examples of this soulmate relationship include the (reviewed) "Gun Runners" about Kenyan criminals trading in their guns for training for marathons and the (also reviewed) "Karl Marx City" in which an East German woman searches for the truth about her deceased father.
Legendary director Andrzej Wajada chooses the life of equally renowned Polish painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski as the subject of his final film. Simply being a highly influential artist whose theory that objects that we see leave an imprint on our eyes provides ""Afterimage" its name warrants a biopic on the life of Strzeminski. His hugely uneven battles with the Communist regime in the wake of WWII makes the life of a formerly literally good soldier a story that must be told.
The regard for this film include it being the official Polish submission for best foreign film for the 89th Academy Awards.
The following YouTube clip of a SPOILER-LADEN trailer for "Afterimage" highlights the intensity of the subject and the beauty of the film.
The Strzeminski at the beginning of "Afterimage" is a happy and beloved professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Lodz. Early scenes of him showing his jubilant nature includes frolicking the likes of which most students any where never see. This painter clearly is the Yoda to his young Jedis, whose devotion becomes increasingly clear throughout the film.
A highly symbolic scene regarding what it is to come also occurs early in the film; a frustrated Strzeminski slashes a huge propaganda banner that is blocking needed light from coming in his apartment window. This prompts a quick and aggressive response.
Strzeminski refusals to sacrifice his artistic and personal integrity to promote the new regime brings him additional pain; he is ousted from the union of which he is a founding member, has his work destroyed, and finds himself destitute and humiliated. Any relief that his students help him achieve is temporary before being sadistically wrested away.
The adoring students include pretty younger blonde Hania, who seems to be the pet of the teacher within a couple of meanings of that word.
The final scenes are the most dramatic as our artistic genius literally is treated as street trash; this contributes to the melodrama at the end as he is offered an opportunity to ease the pain from his broken body and spirit. The outcome whether Strzeminski cooperates or does not sacrifice his principles provides a powerful conclusion. Wajda either sends the dystopian message that resistance to the oppressive party regime is futile no matter how hard you try or shows that Strzeminski is a martyr who chooses almost unbearable suffering over allowing himself and his art to be used for propaganda.
The Blu-ray extra consists of a feature-length documentary in which Wajda discusses his work.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Afterimage" is strongly encouraged to email me; you alternatively can connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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