A well-respected art historian steals a valuable painting from a church, not knowing he is being watched with a video camera by a young man who later demands that he put it right back. Unfortunately, the painting has already gone abroad and the crooks behind the heist are not about to allow the boy’s fanatical idealism to persuade them too easily.
This vaguely metaphysical Polish thriller is directed by first-timer Stanislaw Mucha in the style of the great Krzysztof Kieslowski; since it is penned by Krzysztof Pieseiewitz, Kieslowski’s regular screenwriter, comparisons are inevitable. Hope, in this case, is "the mother of the stupid", and the young man simply won’t give up.
Kieslowski would have made it better since, despite good acting, allied to some intelligent direction, there is an emotional vacuum at the heart of this off-beat tragi-comedy. But itis worth seeing all the same.
Hope
Cert: 15
