Rent The Promised Land (1974)

A period drama focusing on boom-town Lodz in late 19th-century Poland - The Promised Land review by Philip in Paradiso

'The Promised Land' (1975) is a historical drama directed by Andrzej Wajda, the famous Polish director. The film focuses on the Polish city of Lodz, which was industrializing very fast in the late 19th century, on the back of a boom in the manufacturing of textiles: Lodz had become, to Poland, what Manchester was to England. The movie focuses on 3 young men who are friends and want to get rich: they want to set up a factory of their own. One is an ethnic Pole, an aristocrat; the 2nd one is an ethnic German; and the 3rd one is a Jew. In that way, the film re-creates the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of Polish society at the time when, alongside ethnic Poles, there were large German and Jewish minorities. Lodz is in central Poland and was under Russian (Tsarist) rule at the time, which explains the fact the Ruble is the currency in use.

Karol Borowiecki is a young Polish nobleman; he is an engineer. He is ambitious and ruthless in his career pursuits, and is also uninterested in the aristocratic traditions vested in his financially struggling family. His dream is to set up his own factory with the help of his 2 friends - Max Baum, an ethnic German whose father still runs an old-style textile factory operating with handlooms , and Moritz Welt, a Jewish businessman. The film narrates the 3 friends' progress towards achieving their goal, and the obstacles they have to overcome along the way.

The film, which is nearly 2 hrs 45 mins long, is a kind of historical epic drama, and it follows a linear path, in a manner that is primarily descriptive, with striking set pieces along the way. The movie is good at re-creating the atmosphere in Lodz at the time - a boom town in the grip of unbridled capitalist development, where lavish wealth co-exists with dire poverty. There is an undertone of moral disapproval right through the movie, in this respect: the rich, in the main, are greedy, selfish and predatory characters, exploiting the wretched working masses, who live in filth and squalor. This moralistic stance - justified as it may be in view of the context at the time - appears to be rooted in Roman Catholicism (the Christian notion of sin) as well as Socialism (the class struggle). The film was made when Poland was a Communist country and this angle, no doubt, would have appealed to the authorities, as the movie, in essence, denounces capitalism as an evil system.

Where the film is more problematical is in the way that it depicts the various characters, always relating their reactions and attitudes to their ethnic background. Karol is the epitome of the dashing Polish nobleman, supremely self-confident, also with women. Max is quieter as well as hard-working, with an interest in engineering and machines - your typical German, in other words! As for Moritz, he is the caricature of the Jewish wheeler-dealer who only cares about making money quickly. In fairness, a lot of the industrialists, bankers and financiers in Lodz at the time were ethnic Germans and Jews, not ethnic Poles, and the story touches upon this aspect, in fact: Karol may not be welcome, as an ethnic Pole who represents a threat to the established textile companies. Still, the film is built around stereotypes - and, in view of the history of Poland from the 1920s until the 1950s more particularly, this may be deemed rather troubling.

In terms of the film, the problem with those simplistic stereotypes (and there are many others in the movie, such as the dim-witted Polish peasant!) is that it makes it difficult for the viewer to fully engage with the characters, somehow. So, it is a very good film, but not a nuanced masterpiece in my opinion.

Troubling politics - The Promised Land review by JG

As one might expect of Wajda, this is a very well made film, but it’s politics are troubling. Given the ruling Socialist ideology of the period, the three main characters, all ruthless capitalists, are little more than caricature oppressors of the downtrodden workers. That one is a stereotyped Jew, is very disturbing given the wartime fate of the Polish Jews.