With Fire and Sword

Many comments have been made on the movie, the plot and the acting. I saw the movie at a private screening in Warsaw and loved it. Some of the scenes were well done, some great.

But the music....the music never leaves you. The variations on "Falcons" through the second half of the movie were wonderful. The scene on the river with the male chorus was haunting. THe music should have attracted more note than it did. But, not released in English, based on a super-nationalistic plot of dubious historic value, the movie was only going to appeal to a Polish audience, which it certainly did.

(For those who have commented on its excessive pro-Polish stance, they would be surprised to hear that, in Poland, the criticism was that it was too nice to Chmielnicki. Some said that Hoffman's Ukrainian wife had too much influence.)

The music is the lasting star of the movie. I have the CD and treasure it.