The Very Best Polish Movies Ever
by peterkowalski | created - 25 Aug 2016 | updated - 25 Aug 2016 | PublicThe Ultimate List
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1. A Short Film About Killing (1988)
Not Rated | 84 min | Crime, Drama
A soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Votes: 22,424
2. A Short Film About Love (1988)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Romance
A naive inexperienced young man spies on a woman who lives across the courtyard, and falls in love with her. He starts using tricks which he hopes will lead to them meeting.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko, Stefania Iwinska, Piotr Machalica
Votes: 26,094
3. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Romance, War
As World War II and the German occupation ends, the Polish resistance and the Soviet forces turn on each other in an attempt to take over leadership in Communist Poland.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski
Votes: 13,476
4. The Promised Land (1975)
Not Rated | 170 min | Drama
Three friends hope to build a factory but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka
Votes: 4,032
5. Kanal (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, War
In 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar, Wienczyslaw Glinski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski
Votes: 8,043
6. Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Stars: Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska, Maria Chwalibóg
Votes: 4,316
7. Interrogation (1989)
TV-MA | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.
Director: Ryszard Bugajski | Stars: Krystyna Janda, Adam Ferency, Janusz Gajos, Agnieszka Holland
Votes: 3,684
8. The Sandglass (1973)
124 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution, where time itself doesn't seem to exist, and the line between dreams and memories becomes indistinguishable.
Director: Wojciech Has | Stars: Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Irena Orska, Halina Kowalska
Votes: 4,977
9. Camera Buff (1979)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Jerzy Stuhr, Malgorzata Zabkowska, Ewa Pokas, Stefan Czyzewski
Votes: 8,284
10. The Deluge (1974)
287 min | Adventure, History, Romance
During the 1655 war between Protestant Sweden and Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth some Polish-Lithuanian nobles side with Swedish king Charles X Gustav while others side with the Polish king Jan Kazimierz.
Director: Jerzy Hoffman | Stars: Daniel Olbrychski, Malgorzata Braunek, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Kazimierz Wichniarz
Votes: 3,188
11. Day of the Wacko (2002)
Not Rated | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
24 hours in the bitter life of a frustrated divorced teacher who stays in the vicious circle of his numerous obsessions.
Director: Marek Koterski | Stars: Marek Kondrat, Janina Traczykówna, Andrzej Grabowski, Michal Koterski
Votes: 11,816
12. Teddy Bear (1981)
111 min | Comedy
The main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances. One day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a ... See full summary »
Director: Stanislaw Bareja | Stars: Stanislaw Tym, Barbara Burska, Christine Paul, Krzysztof Kowalewski
Votes: 6,629
13. The Cruise (1970)
65 min | Comedy
A stowaway on a cruise ship is mistaken for an entertainment director.
Director: Marek Piwowski | Stars: Stanislaw Tym, Jolanta Lothe, Wanda Stanislawska-Lothe, Jerzy Dobrowolski
Votes: 3,703
14. Man of Marble (1977)
160 min | Drama
A young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Jacek Lomnicki
Votes: 4,781
15. Our Folks (1967)
81 min | Comedy
Two quarreling peasant families, who were forced to leave their lands after the war, are settled by accident on two neighbouring farms.
Director: Sylwester Checinski | Stars: Waclaw Kowalski, Wladyslaw Hancza, Zdzislaw Karczewski, Eliasz Kuziemski
Votes: 3,961
16. Night Train (1959)
99 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Jerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Stars: Lucyna Winnicka, Leon Niemczyk, Teresa Szmigielówna, Zbigniew Cybulski
Votes: 3,627
17. Blind Chance (1987)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Boguslaw Linda, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Boguslawa Pawelec
Votes: 11,210
18. The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
182 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Upon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.
Director: Wojciech Has | Stars: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrzynska, Elzbieta Czyzewska, Gustaw Holoubek
Votes: 5,896 | Gross: $0.12M
19. Sexmission (1984)
122 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Two scientists are placed into a 3-year hibernation, but when they wake up, it turns out to have been 50 years, and they are the only two males in a new underground society composed exclusively of women.
Director: Juliusz Machulski | Stars: Wieslaw Michnikowski, Jerzy Stuhr, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Dorota Stalinska
Votes: 14,431
20. Bad Luck (1960)
92 min | Comedy
The story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of ... See full summary »
Director: Andrzej Munk | Stars: Bogumil Kobiela, Maria Ciesielska, Helena Dabrowska, Barbara Lass
Votes: 1,352
21. What Will You Do When You Catch Me? (1978)
99 min | Comedy
What Will You Do When You Catch Me? is a parody of comunist times in Poland. A state-owned company director is having an afair during his delegation. Later on, his mistress turns out to be ... See full summary »
Director: Stanislaw Bareja | Stars: Krzysztof Kowalewski, Bronislaw Pawlik, Stanislaw Tym, Ewa Wisniewska
Votes: 1,944
22. Passenger (1963)
62 min | Drama, War
While aboard a transatlantic passenger ship, a German woman, Liza, notices someone who looks like Marta, a former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be a guard.
Directors: Andrzej Munk, Witold Lesiewicz | Stars: Aleksandra Slaska, Anna Ciepielewska, Jan Kreczmar, Marek Walczewski
Votes: 2,133
23. Symetria (2003)
99 min | Drama, Thriller
A man falsely accused of assaulting an old woman tries to adapt to his new life in prison.
Director: Konrad Niewolski | Stars: Arkadiusz Detmer, Andrzej Chyra, Janusz Bukowski, Marcin Jedrzejewski
Votes: 3,772
24. Man of Iron (1981)
PG | 156 min | Drama, History
A few years after the events of Man of Marble (1977), a journalist investigates Mateusz Birkut's son Maciek Tomczyk, now an activist leading a shipyard strike.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Marian Opania, Wieslawa Kosmalska
Votes: 3,796
25. Knife in the Water (1962)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Thriller
A couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Anna Ciepielewska
Votes: 23,600
26. Hi, Tereska (2001)
86 min | Drama
A sensitive teenage girl from a poor family befriends a cynical schoolmate, who shows her how to smoke, drink, have sex and steal. Tereska's life heads towards a catastrophe.
Director: Robert Glinski | Stars: Aleksandra Gietner, Karolina Sobczak, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Malgorzata Rozniatowska
Votes: 1,574
27. I Hate Mondays (1971)
98 min | Comedy
An acute case of Mondayitis in Warsaw. Interwoven stories of a few inhabitants of Warsaw, including one very unlucky Italian on a governmental mission and a charitable Polish American.
Director: Tadeusz Chmielewski | Stars: Kazimierz Witkiewicz, Zygmunt Apostol, Bogusz Bilewski, Mieczyslaw Czechowicz
Votes: 2,284
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