Strong and Moving!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Taken to an unspecified European country for interrogation after killing three US soldiers, an unnamed terrorist tries to survive after fleeing capture in this unconventional thriller starring Vincent Gallo. It is not an easy to film to watch, and much of what Gallo gets up to (especially with a mother with a baby) may make one feel queasy, but Jerzy Skolimowski's approach in directing the material is refreshingly unique. His protagonist is thoroughly dislikeable at face value: possibly a member of the Taliban and mercilessly killing many along the way. As the title alludes to though, all of his killings are essential, at least in his eyes, and it is hard not to feel for his desperation, heinous as his actions may be. The choice to shoot with minimal dialogue (Gallo never once speaks) and no specific locations works well too as the film gets down to the essence of what it means to survive and live in the heat of the moment, politics aside. Interesting as all this might sound, 'Essential Killing' nevertheless ends on a sadly inconclusive note. The final section of the film (in which second-billed Emmanuelle Seigner finally appears) comes off as extremely implausible too. The benefit of all those flashbacks is likewise debatable since the less we know about Gallo, the more fascinating he is. If flawed, 'Essential Killing' remains daringly different though to the point that it is a hard film not to recommend. The picturesque yet hostile deserted locations, the frequently mobile cinematography and Pawel Mykietyn's eerie score all combine to make a difficult yet hard-to-forget experience.

To avoid spoilers, avoid this review: This film has some positive aspects, there parts of it that are quite nice to look at, snow, trees, mountains, some grass.Otherwise it's pretty much nonsense.The characters are without much consequence, the main, the escaped Taliban terrorist, says nothing, and basically just grunts most of the time, all the while killing various people (including a dog).The story is timeless of course, some guy being chased by some other guys. Other than that, it's inane.There's no real dialogue, since there isn't any real dialogue. Just a lot of strange wandering through the snow of a Talib trying to go somewhere that he doesn't know where. Maybe that's existentialist. The only people who say anything are angry Americans or some Polish guys who also get killed by this guy. And he seems to be the one that is the sympathetic one.How a Taliban managed to get to trying to escape in Poland is an odd concept. Not that it's bad, I suppose. The film lacks story, lacks point, lacks really anything except a grunting protagonist not doing much of anything, except getting lucky a few times during his dubious journey (the Americans take mercy on him, the travel vehicle turns over, letting him escape, being able to fall into a Polish river and escape from tracking dogs, not being shot by a standing number of guns, the list goes on and on, and it get sort of boring).Not a good movie.

I do not have a problem with movies in which the main character doesn't say a word, of course, if we are talking about silent movies or let's call them art movies. But this movie is neither. The story starts out well but then the main character ends up at an unknown continent and we all go there with him. He strays the woods looking for escape and so do you.Because it seems that the end will never come for the main character nor for you.The movie gets three stars from me for a nice start and for the actors effort.

The boldest movie that i have seen this year. the movie begins very quietly as a small documentary style movie and in the beginning reeks of a small budget..but then when i saw the gunships hovering overhead and the Guantanamo style execution, i quietened my pace,,,and realized that i was in the Presence of a Master. And my sixth sense was rewarded, as i decided to forgo my last evening in beautiful Wroclaw, by watching a film in the open air tmobile film festival....amazing style,,,amazing gravity...amazing sense of depth and story. the story is simple but its built purely on inspiration. the movie is inspiring and i have to say as the writer of "Black Shark Valley", my book had a similar theme as this movie, and made me marvel at the director even more.i was excited that there are others out there in the World that want that sort of mad, insane , bold , and out of the box action that only the psychedelically deranged dare imagine. this movie was such a nice fresh breath of air that i was in Ecstasy as the movie went darker and deeper into the mind with each scene. the movie was very easily seen as a series of sequences, shot cinematically, and boy did the Director hit Jackpot. He was insane, and he is a Polish Director and I have the Highest regard for this man. He made my entire trip to Wrocalw worth it by just his film alone. And i was very Lucky indeed to catch this movie. amazing story, amazing boldness, and brilliant acting with styles borrowed from almost every Art Director out there, and it was great. This is a little gem of a movie waiting to be discovered!