Saturday, September 17, 2016

Spotkanie ze szpiegiem

Spotkanie ze szpiegiem is a 1964 Polish crime/espionage movie by director Jan Batory.  
A submarine surfaces off Poland's Baltic coast; a man disembarks, then uses a hot-air balloon to fly into Polish territory. He lands in thick woodland and buries the equipment that he will need for his escape when the mission is over.  
As he does this, he's being watched by an obviously harmless and slow-witted forest worker, who, as an unwanted witness, is immediately and unceremoniously killed. Although the spy's submarine has been detected by the Security Services, who have despatched a search party to track him down, he nonetheless manages to make it to the Polish capital, Warsaw. 
The city is a network of go-betweens of both sexes, of traitors to socialism, all just waiting for the chance to make contact with him: in modern parlance, it's a nest of 'sleepers'. Coded radio messages are broadcast, dead letter boxes set up, secret meetings arranged and information is gathered about military installations. 
At times, it's not clear exactly what is being spied on and to what exact end; but what is obvious is that the espionage is directed against the creation of a socialist state in Poland and against its intrinsic values of peaceful co-existence and compassion. And we know from the opening moments of the film, that the spy will ruthlessly murder people without a second thought. After some confusing to-ing and fro-ing, the action culminates in a long car chase, during which several people are killed. However, the villain is finally captured and brought to book, to get the punishment he deserves.

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