SIFF 2008: Time to Die
Poland 2007
Review by Elena Goukassian
Posted June
8, 2008
The title makes it sound like an action thriller
starring Arnold Schwartzenegger saving people from evil
villains. Not at all. Exactly the opposite, in fact. The
main character of this beautiful Polish film, which played
at the Seattle International Film Festival last week, is
none other than a 91-year-old woman named Aniela.
After the last of her tenants moves out of
her once-beautiful house in the outskirts of
Warsaw, Aniela finds herself alone and at peace at last,
only to realize the reality of her situation isn’t at all
how she had expected. She spends her time spying on her
neighbors from her top-floor sun porch: one, a young couple
suspiciously rich for how stupid they are, and the other, a
poor couple who runs a small music school. She talks to her
dog about how liqueur is what keeps the two of them healthy
and strong. She watches children climb through the hole in
her fence and play on her swing. She fondly remembers her
son playing on the same swing as a child. The most exciting
part of her day is when the phone rings.
Danuta Szaflarska plays the Aniela
brilliantly. The script was actually written with her in
mind, 91 years old herself at the time of filming. Director
Dorota Kedzierzawska captures the monotonous life of the old
woman in gorgeous frames of black-and-white, just like old
photographs--very fitting for a film whose main character is
mired in the past. Yet the film as a whole is not as dismal
as it sounds. Despite her age, Aniela is still sensible and
understands everything that goes on around her, so she jokes
about life, pointing out little things that would normally
go unnoticed by anyone else. Nevertheless, she realizes she
will die soon and is deeply saddened by the fact that her
son’s family only sees her as a burden on its modern life.
“Time to Die” has to be one of the best movies I’ve seen in
a long time. It is simple in structure yet complex in
content; a tragicomic portrayal of human existence.
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