Sue D
Lurid, confronting, dreamlike, terrible and strangely beautiful
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/04/23
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cinegeek.de Our Daily Free Stream: Andrzej Zulawski - Diabel. Wieso wurde Diabel, Zulawskis zweiter Film, nicht nur gebannt, sondern sein Regisseur auch noch aus dem Land geworfen? Es muss etwas in dem Werk mitschwingen, dass die polnischen Behörden verängstigte. Polen 1793, während die preussische Armee im Land einmarschiert. Der Edelmann Jakub wird aus dem Gefängnis geholt durch einen geheimnisvollen Fremden. Der aber verlangt eine Gegenleistung: Die Liste der Verschwörer, die Jakub folgen. Polen hat sich verändert, während Jakub im Kerker sass. Wie ein dunkler Erlöser wandelt der Fremde durch das Land und hinterlässt eine Spur des Chaos und der Korruption. Jakub erlebt den Tod seines Vaters und wie seine Freundin ihn betrügt. Seine Mutter arbeitet nun als Prostituierte, seine Schwester hat einen Bruder (den Jakub nicht kennt) geheiratet, der sie misshandelt. Verrückt geworden durch die Ereignisse, begeht Jakub eine Reihe von Morden, scheinbar ohne Motivation. Diabel erzeugt einen Sog hektischer Energie, die ich so bei keinem anderen Regisseur je wieder gesehen habe. Wie eine einzige Jagd erscheint Diabel, begleitet von einem bizarren Soundtrack aus Windharfen. Unmöglich, die Handlung von Diabel im Ganzen zu erfassen, aufgrund der christlichen Symbolik, die so wohl niemand versteht, der nicht Anfang der 70er in Polen lebte. Drei Mal habe ich ihn nun gesehen, um überhaupt eine Ahnung des Geschehens zu bekommen. Mehr als alles andere ist dieses komplexe Werk ein Kunstfilm, der intuitiv funktioniert. Die Frage, ob wir Diabel verstehen, ist falsch gestellt. Vielmehr vermittelt dieser Horror-Film ein zunehmend beklemmendes Gefühl des Unwohlseins. Diabel wirkt zudem so eindringlich, da Soldaten aus dem Krieg heimkehren und feststellen, dass im eigenen Land ein noch viel mächtigerer Feind wütet. Diabel, ein zutiefst hoffnungsloses Werk, dass zum Tod von Zulawski entdeckt werden muss! mehr auf cinegeek.de
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Having only seen this film once in the early 1990's, and and being that I'm not confident I saw an uncensored version of Andrzej ?u?awski's legendary film -- I'm not sure if my rating is fair. This epic which officially earned ?u?awskia a particularly rebellious role in Polish cinema at that time is visually arresting and a complex and allegorical criticism of governmental corruption. It has stayed with me -- and that says something in itself. I believe Mondo-Vision will be restoring this infamous film to blu-ray later this year. I look forward to seeing it again with more educated eyes.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
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First think of Goethe's <i>Faust</i>.
Zulawski's poetic piece of exploitative sensory overload acts as a tragedy. Plotwise, the historical setting never matters, which takes place during the Prussian army's invasion of Poland in 1793. During the invasion, a man (Jakub) who was imprisoned because of an assassination plot against the King is saved by a stranger. In exchange, the stranger asks him the list of Jakub's fellow conspirators. It is a bargain. Maybe implicitly, Jakub sold his life to this stranger, following him across the country as he progressively becomes more insane each time at the sight of the rotten state of an impoverished and decaying nation. As the plot outline sells, he becomes a "mass murderer", a description that barely sells the allegorical content of this examination of social and political turmoil that could appeal to any era. So Jakub got his life saved by somebody who claimed it back, utterly destroying it by leading it to insanity and desperation. This stranger, who acts as a guide, displays horrific sights of this physically and morally destroyed 18th-Century nation, whispering the actions of Jakub and acting as an evil motor. But there is free will in Jakub as well, which remains unquestionable.
Now, think of <b>Sokurov's</b> <i>Faust</i> (2011).
In case you haven't seen it, see it. You will not like it, but I deeply encourage everybody to challenge their moviewatching scope from time to time. It is a wise investment even if the film won't receive a high rating from the viewer. Anyway, Zulawski's invigorating style of insanity displayed at every corner definitely precedes Sokurov's hellish vision of Goethe's tragedy, where each frame is filled with details that are caught by the eye either consciously or subconsciously. Camera management is aggressive and intrepid, never giving up, never hesitating to the depiction of scandalous content, shifting tones and creating authentic psychological horror with remarkable success.
So it might be quite obvious now why I love the Faust comparison. The tragic scope of the original literary work can be mirrored in Zulawski's vision of hell on earth, including the final outcome of the characters which I won't spoil, while Goethe's work also received a spectacular cinematic adaptation in 2011 with a style that resonates true to the lens of the provocateurs of the 70s. Maybe it's a bold statement to declare Zulawski as a provocateur if we consider his whole Polish pre-<i>Possession</i> (1981) body of work and compare it with worthy names of such classification like Ôshima, Makavejev, Franco and Borowczyk, but <i>Diabel</i> is a film that cannot be omitted from an era of new ways of cinematic exploration which scandal still resonates today.
And I'm sorry, but Czech master Ján Jakubisko preceded Zulawski as well! Each time I am more convinced that he is one of the best directors that ever lived, especially because of his hellish version of <i>The Deserter and the Nomads</i> (1968).
96/100
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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Too much shrieking and fits of hysterics, nevertheless imaginative and atmospheric.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
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Insanity and chaos prevails, but it seems like the whole cast have been directed to fall on the floor and shake around at will.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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