The greatest movie ever made..!

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Movie will be probably marked as 1 on IMDb rating by Ukrainian users of IMDb (same like Promise by Turks?). Ukrainian actors whose played in this movie, lost their's jobs after premiere. Those actors had jobs in Ukrainians theaters. Despite the fact that movie is bloody and brutal it shows only small part of cruelties which Ukrainians done during Wolyn genocide to Poles, Jewish, Czechs and other nations. What is important it shows also good Ukrainians. Why important it is estimated that on five Poles killed there were one Ukrainian who were killed becose he didn't want to kill those Poles. This hero Ukrainians there were at least 20 000. Today loots of Ukrainians are proud to carry half black half red flags and they thinks that Bandera and UPA were heroes. Well they weren't. They were just monsters and butchers whose main passion were killing innocent civilians with forks hammers and saws.

A story from views usually unknown and too easy forgotten. Portrait with a real story and how easy "dog eats dog". The factions how shallow they are is depicted properly. As it was everywhere during the WW2. The eels survived.. The grit and do and helplessness is also well described. Well worth the view.

Dire, thick atmosphere of waiting for massacre you knew that will happen. Pure terror unleashed at night, when neighbors come to kill you in one hundred different ways preceded by showing how this community was like at time of peace. You would not think that it is really possible. Marriages, working together, social space and to some degree language is common. But there are some differences on both sides...Dmytro Klyachkivsky citation: "We should make a large action of the liquidation of the Polish element." To understand this film properly you need some historic and psychological (Lucifer effect) background. I am certain that when reversed things would have gone south anyway.Wolyn (Volhynia) is historic region where poles and Ruthenians lived peacefully for centuries (by that I mean peasants). Around XVII century Poland gained more territory in what today is called Ukraine. Polish noble class assimilated Ruthenian (today Ukrainian) noble class. One of Ruthenians even become elected king of the Commonwealth of Polish and Lithuania. Wolyn alone was in polish rule from XIV century.This whole territory east of Wolyn and including Wolyn was a place where polish peasant run away from polish noble class (szlachta) rule and mixed with local Ruthenian population.Commonwealth wanted to suppress those people. Thousands of them remained on king payroll as soldiers - so they knew how to fight. Those people responded accordingly with Chmielnicki uprisings, killing Poles and assimilated Ruthenian nobles. Century of bloodshed ended by Russian subjugating most of these lands. This is why eastern Ukraine (Russian rule) is different from western Ukraine (Polish rule).Era of nationalism resulted in Ukrainian National Revival when Ukrainian people gained new identity and were distancing from Polish and Russian cultures.In interbellum period in Poland unfortunately won the idea of unity - Ukrainians and Belorussians was to be assimilated into Polish culture (there was project of creating Polish, Belorussian and Ukrainian separated states in confederation) Ukrainians responded with violence. And film starts when this period is about to end. Firstly Russians witch to this date see Ukraine as "little Russia" in a derogatory way) and next Germans which promised own state to Ukrainians.Ukraine had seen Hitler as they savior in a way. Organisation born from this feelings decided that Wolyn must be ethnically cleansed to ensure Ukrainian nature of this region in future. That's when Lucifer Effect starts to sink in. Same was in Tutsi - Hutu case.

I must say that I really love that film. I have heard almost nothing prior to watching this film, about movie itself. However I am very familiar with those events at south-east of Poland. I love how Smarzowski managed to replicate climate of these ages, the bond between polish and ukrainian community and its slow corruption within the time. Suddenly the the slavic peace full of tradition is brutally interrupted by Germans aggression followed by russians one. obviously polish people were victims slaughtered by ukrainian peasants, but there is much more in this movie. all bad things what happens durring wwII are shown here, sometimes very graphic - but the truth was even worse. I enjoy the storyline, miracle survivors and the fact the human life price was close to nothing. The only flaw I must say, its bit small attention given to so called AK - polish underground army. they were haunted mercilessly by both sides Germans and russians and they were stuck between their commit to national cause and defending its citizens - however I understand this might be good theme for the separate movie.