Władysław Pasikowski's "Psy" ("Pigs") - about the film and a trailer by Janek the Crov

Cześć!

PSY (PIGS)

I was going to write a review of a Polish film "Psy" (or "Pigs" as the US title says), but right now I don't really have time for this. A while ago I made a trailer for this movie, because there was none. It does include English subtitles, but I'm sure there are mistakes - if you're willing to help me correct them just sent me a PM here on Spill or on YouTube.

Anyway.

In Polish language "psy" means "dogs" ("pies" is a "dog"), which is a slang term for cops, that's why US title is "Pigs".

Plot summary from IMDB and my summary:

In good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from secret police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa - SB) used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all the privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz would soon find that some of his friends are on the other side.

It's a year 1990. A group of old SB officers after a verification get hired in police. Franciszek "Franz" Maruer is one of them. His friend, Olgier "Olo" Żwirski, is not. Franz leads a new group of cops from crime unit on an operation against an international crime group. The operation goes wrong when they're attacked by a very daring thugs, who - as Franz believes - are also old SB officers, like them. He doesn't know which side is Olo on yet.

It's a crime drama in vein of great American 70s/80s crime films with dark, gritty world full of tough guy antiheroes, who drink a lot, smoke a lot and from time to time beat the shit out of someone. The movie is set firmly in Polish post-communist era, but except for couple of details it shouldn't be hard to understand without knowing that much about Polish history (although at the end of this post I add some Wikipedia links if someone's interested), because basically it's a story about friendship and love set in a cynical and pretty sad world. Don't worry - the movie itself is not a history lesson, though probably it can add to your knowledge if you want to learn history.

Personally, I think it's one of the best (if not the best) Polish film. At times it lacks in technical department, but story is universal and wonderful. It's a guys film - about guys and for guys. It seems like it's not that hard to find in the US on DVD. I recommend to you checking it out.

Here's the trailer made by me:


Music I used:
- a main theme from "PSY"
- Mogwai - Auto Rock


LINKS:
- PSY (PIGS) on Amazon.com (awful cover);
- PSY (PIGS) on Wikipedia;
- PSY (PIGS) on IMDB.

HISTORY LINKS:
- Służba Bezpieczeństwa - secret police Franz Maurer was once a part of;
- Lustration in Poland - documents Maurer and his friends are burning are their cases and informants from when they were in SB (secret police). These documents were (and, in some cases, still are) able to ruin people's public lives, because they cooperated with communist forces.
- History of Poland (1945-1989) - that's a larger Wikipedia piece on Polish history if someone's interested in learning more about PRL and communism in Poland.