Jerzy Kawalerowicz was a great Polish filmmaker, his Quo Vadis is still a remarkable piece of work. And then, this is a great topic to show - the 5-day presidency of Gabriel Narutowicz, short and tragic, in the post-war Poland of 1922, with its high hopes, abandoned hopes, betrayed hopes and shattered dreams. The movie could have been a great period piece. But, Jerzy did it and did it terribly slow, badly, boring and almost universally cliché'd. I made myself watch it all, but these 2 hours were a dull, endless ordeal. What you have here is talk, more talk, some great historical figures talk, debates, talk, election, some sudden action with snowballs throwing, more talk, endless debates, talk again, some sudden action with pistols and several men killed (even that was slow and messy, and badly edited), then - you name it - more talk, and then murder (it is not a spoiler, you know the movie title), then funeral, then some talk again. Yawn. Very boring. You almost wish somebody on the screen throw a blasphemy or make some obscene gesture. Nope. The painfully slow tempo and ocean of talks make the film meaningless bloat. Sad, but back in 1977 Jerzy failed and made a poor film.
Review of Death of a President
