Agnieszka Holland gets attention for her films every decade or so. And appears on many film festivals with her films. Most of these films never attract a substantial audience outside these filmfestivals, however. While I am writing this review her latest film Green Border is being reviewed in all the newspapers and film magazines. The film she had most success with is Europa, Europa. As it happened Lars von Trier premiered his film Europa in the same year. The thing with Mrs. Holland's films is that they are are mostly one issue topic films. This film comes as a surprise: it has 2! At the beginning of a film one always gets to read such and so present this film. That 2nd topic was given away there! A spoiler before the film started. As I don't like spoilers, please open your eyes once that bit is over. The charlatan here is a man who specializes in herbal treatments for ailments and illnesses. Now, some people believe in that and others don't, myself included. After all, we have medical science. I decided to watch the film because of the name and reputation of the director. It is a long film and we move forward and backward to make more things clear. The herbs and flowers are colourful, but the rest of the decor has a depressing dark grey tone. And then at two third of the film the second topic come to prominence. That makes for a surprising twist for many, unless you saw that bit before the beginning of the film: the beginning of a film one always gets to read such and so present this film. The main character. Jan Mikolasek, played by Ivan Trojan looks like Sting from the Police. His son or grandson plays the young Jan. This film might be interesting for you. It won't cheer you up, though.
Review of Charlatan
