Winter of the Crow

Dr. Joan Andrews (Lesley Manville), a London-based academic specializing in clinical psychology, is en route to Poland — a rarely granted privilege for foreigners — in winter 1981. She has been invited by a group of students to present her research at the University of Warsaw. On the ground, she meets Alina (Zofia Wichłacz) and a cohort of activists who have only known life under the thumb of state repression. It's not long before hell — backed by the full power of Soviet-aligned authorities — breaks loose and, as the nation moves towards a certain democratization bolstered by the Solidarity movement, martial law is declared. Suddenly, Dr. Andrews is on the run through barren streets, now increasingly occupied by tanks and militia. As she navigates this concrete labyrinth and scrambles to return home — possibly with the help of the British ambassador (Tom Burke) — the absurdity of state repression is co-opted by an underlying voice guiding her to be on the right side of history.

Co-written with Sandra Buchta and based on a short story by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, Winter of the Crow is a hyperrealist neo-noir set between East and West, when anything could spark disorder and collapse. Tomasz Naumiuk’s clear-eyed cinematography transports us to this Kafkaesque formative moment in European history with shocking accuracy. Kasia Adamik’s expertly executed vision about a time that remains traumatic for several generations and, to this day informs national border politics, is unmissable for history buffs and film lovers alike.

DOROTA LECH