Lesson of a Dead Language (1979) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

"Lesson of a dead language" is one of the first Polish films where there is nothing specifically Polish in its contents. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same title by the writer Andrzej Kusniewicz, who was also a diplomat. Kusniewicz was mostly interested in the heritage of multinational states, and outside of his native Poland, his books are moderately popular in German-speaking countries. "Lesson of a dead language" is not for everyone's taste, but I liked it a lot, maybe because I was at some stage fascinated by early XXth-century Austrian writers like Stefan Zweig, Robert Musil, Joseph Roth, Arthur Schnitzler, and Franz Kafka. The film is about the final weeks of the life of an Austrian lieutenant, Alfred Kiekeritz, during the last days of WWI, who is mortally ill and also tormented by the atrocities of the war. Kiekeritz is convincingly played by Olgierd Lukaszewicz, and I think it is one of the best roles of that actor. The plot of the film is not very rich, but we are compensated with the visual beauty of highly expressionistic pictures and the intensity of moods. So even now, after more than 40 years, I can still remember the colors of the evening sky above the mountain forest or the huddled and hunched old woman crossing the crooked street of some provincial little town. The world that is presented to us is touched by decline and death, and the mood is enhanced by the beautiful "Moonlight" sonata by Beethoven. What is the meaning of all of this? If we want to stay on the positive side of things, we can say that we don't altogether die and are not completely lost. It is because some part of our experiences is remembered by future generations.

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by mpadjasek 8 / 10

A highly original film with "Fin de siecle" moods from the final days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Reviewed by hof-4 7 / 10

Impressionistic film

As we are informed in the opening credits, the Polish title means Lesson of a Dead Language. The place is Turka, a small town southwest of Lemberg (Lviv) in the Eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, today in the Ukraine. The time is 1918, close to the end of WWI and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Lieutenant of Uhlans Alfred Kiekeritz, suffering of advanced consumption, is nearing his own end, reliving his past military exploits in bleak fever dreams and trying to find a meaning in his (and his country's) predicament. He attends seances and incongruously collects art such as a statuette of Artemis found in the ruins of a burned building and an icon of the Mother of God bought from a priest.Not much happens in Turka. Mysterious trains pass through the station both to and from the front, their destination unknown. Kiekeritz attends to his few duties, one of which is to guard Russian prisoners. These are not mistreated unless they carry Bolshevik emblems, which warrants summary execution (the presence of Bolsheviks is a chilling forerunner of the coming Russian Civil War that will sweep into Galicia two years later).In spite of the scarcity of action, this movie attracts and holds your attention to the end. One of the reasons is the restrained, magnetic performance by Olgierd Lukaszewicz as Kiekeritz, supported by an equally excellent cast. Another is the way director Janusz Majewski and cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk capture in subdued tones the melancholic landscapes of Galicia in the fall and in the dead of winter at the end.

Lesson of a Dead Language

1979 [POLISH]

Action / Drama / War

Lesson of a Dead Language

1979 [POLISH]

Action / Drama / War

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Movie Reviews

A highly original film with "Fin de siecle" moods from the final days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Impressionistic film

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