in postwar Masuria.In summer 1945 Tadeusz Mazur, a former soldier and veteran of Warsaw Uprising, moves to Masuria, a region in former German East Prussia, which became part of Poland as a result of the Potsdam Agreement after World War II. He's searching for Róża Kwiatkowska, a widow of a German Wehrmacht soldier whose death Tadeusz had witnessed, to hand over her husband’s possessions. Róża reluctantly invites Tadeusz to stay at her farm to protect her against marauders and the brutal rapes she had previously experienced during the Soviet East Prussian Offensive and in the lawless atmosphere of postwar Masuria. From this partnership of purpose, slowly respect and love arises - a relationship frowned upon and attracting the unwelcome attention of the new Polish nationalists as well as the Soviet NKVD and Polish Bureau of Security.
Róża provides examples of:
- Already Met Everyone: Tadeusz and Liliwa are good friends from AK and maybe even from before the war. And after playing stupid for a while, Tadeusz admits that he too remembers Kazik from an AK-AL meeting back in '43.
- Anger Born of Worry: Played for Laughs when Róża blows her top off at Tadeusz. He's demining the field she owns, while she mends his clothes back home. Suddenly, massive explosion shatters the windows and Róża runs alarmed to the last place she saw Tadeusz, looking around for his body. Turns out he has intentionally detonated a landmine he couldn't disarm, so she starts screaming at him, in German, apparently completely oblivious she slipped to another language. After which she tells him to come in for dinner before it gets cold.
- Artistic License – Military: Probably just an error, but the Soviet major is billed as a colonel during end titles, despite wearing very distinctive insignia.
- Black Comedy: Tadeusz and Władek need to find a leg that got blown off from one of the looters to hide the body before any sort of authorities show up.
- Brick Joke: Despite his best efforts, the bicycle does get stolen from Tadeusz. But, much later, he meets the black market trader again, who's riding that very bike. After sharing a laugh over it, Tadeusz gets the bike back for free.
- Brutal Honesty: Liliwa, the doctor, very bluntly informs Tadeusz that Róża will die and Jadwiga will get deported - this is an attempt to convince his friend to flee before the Bureau of Security gets him. It doesn't work, but Tadeusz also doesn't mind being chewed out, has been fully aware of these things all the while, and he finds Liliwa's concern touching.
- The Brute: Vasyl, the Russian soldier/looter/settler, an useful "muscle" for local authorities to terrorise the locals with.
- Cassandra Truth: The dollars have been found. That's the entire truth.
- Chekhov's Armoury: In an almost literal form: Tadeusz finds a crashed German Kübelwagen. At first he only picks up a small stash of dollars that helps him with various tasks, but afterwards he returns for a rifle, a scope for it and a pistol, each serving different purpose later in the story.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Róża makes one about Masurian funeral traditions. Tadeusz uses it when preparing for her funeral. He also uses a hatchet to kill Vasyl, following Róża's guess about what the axe is for in the tradition.Róża: To kill evil?
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- The looter who gets his leg blown off by a landmine.
- The brutal, dragged-out murder of Vasyl, who is eventually chopped into pieces by enraged Tadeusz.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tadeusz has his moments, most importantly when drinking with Kazik.Tadeusz: If I were a "class enemy", I would be blowing up bridges, not demining farmland.
- Dirty Coward: Władek, whose level of courage is always a notch too low.
- The Dog Bites Back: Róża eventually takes her chance and stabs Vasyl, saving Tadeusz in the process.
- Dramatic Irony:
- All the Masurians who stay in their homes rather than escaping, try to keep their steads and fatherland, go through all sorts of humiliaition, persecution and even random lynches and manhunts... still get deported in the end.
- The only gynecologist in the area is a Soviet major, trying to help in a situation caused by his own army.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Again, Władek, who just can't cope with the whole post-war mess.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Kazik, the ubek in glasses sits in the back of the rover that's delivering the Soviet captain when the Masurians are begging the local commisair for food.
- Famed In-Story:After he demines this field, Tadeusz gains notoriety as "the local sapper".
- Forced to Watch:
- Tadeusz watches his wife being raped and murdered. Not only he's too weak from his wounds to do anything about it, but has to pretend he's dead already.
- Jadwiga more than once has to watch, or at least listen, to her mother being raped and must always pretend she's not even there, hiding from the rapists on Róża's insistance.
- Foregone Conclusion: The Masurians will get eventually deported as "Germans". Then again, considering that Poland was entering the Stalinist period, maybe they were better off leaving.
- On meta-level, Smarzowski's, the director, doesn't do Happy Endings.
- Foreign-Language Tirade: For the entire movie, Róża speaks Polish. The only time she lapses into German happens when she rants at Tadeusz for Anger Born of Worry reasons.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Kazik is utterly incapable of compassion, on just about any level. Moreover, he apparently takes personal pleasure in tormenting everyone, especially Tadeusz. This makes him a perfect UB officer. Eventually Tadeusz flat-out calls him out on this.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Liliwa also ends up in the torture dungeon. He doesn't make it.
- Friend in the Black Market: A helpful, cheerful guy that can organise whatever you need for a handful of dollars. Except he's secretly the head of local State Sec and only running this operation to gather intel and secure outflow of foreign currency.
- Good Feels Good: An important motivation for Tadeusz.
- Good-Times Montage:
- The very brief flashback of a pre-war village fair.
- Tadeusz taking Róża and Jadwiga for a boat ride and a small picnic.
- Great Offscreen War: World War II is just wrapping up. The first scene takes place during the Warsaw Uprising.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Vasyl is obssessed with Róża and just can't stand the possibility of other men having her - even if he himself rapes her any given chance and doesn't understand what "no" means.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Jadwiga, who is alive and well. Tadeusz doesn't realise she's even there despite living in the house for few days, or maybe even weeks. Other than him, an entire Soviet garrison stationed on the farm never noticed, either..
- Honor Before Reason: A major characteristic for Tadeusz. He's perfectly aware just how deep in shit he is, but he simply can't stop himself from doing the morally good thing, even if all it accomplishes is more suffering for himself.
- Hope Spot: When Władek shows up for the first time, it seems like the situation might possibly be stabilising. Then, when Vasyl is finally killed, Tadeusz assumes all their worries are over.
- Imagine Spot: When Tadeusz marries Jadwiga, he imagines Róża in her place.
- Improvised Weapon: At one point Tadeusz ends up fending off two looters with a makeshift spear he was using for mine sweeping.
- Last Request: Róża asks Tadeusz to marry her daughter and grant her citizenship this way.
- Made of Iron: Downplayed with Vasyl, as neither Róża nor Jadwiga know how to kill, so he survives a knife stab and being shot, but when Tadeusz gets at him with a hatchet, he's brutally murdered in a couple of quick chops.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: After wiping out what's left of Vasyl's gang, Tadeusz blows up their truck, making it look like a fatal crash while carrying munitions.
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Róża admits she has no idea why, when carrying the dead body out of the house, the custom dictates to leave an axe on the doorstep.
- Manly Tears: When Tadeusz learns Róża's condition is untreatable. He stays out in the cold, autumn storm to pretend it's not his tears, but the rain going down his face, all the while crying like a baby.
- Marriage of Convenience: Tadeusz ends up marrying Jadwiga, so she can gain Polish citizenship. The final scene strongly suggests a Perfectly Arranged Marriage.
- Meaningful Name: Tadeusz surname is Mazur, meaning "from Masuria".
- Mistaken for Spies: Done deliberately by the interrogators, who want to humiliate Tadeusz as much as possible for his past in the AK, adding to it charges of being an anti-Polish spy and a saboteur on Western payroll.
- Mood Whiplash: Each and every bright spot is almost instantly followed by horrible things happening.
- My Greatest Failure: Tadeusz has more than one reason to stick for Róża:
- He let Anna, his wife, to be raped and murdered right in front of him and his only option back then was Playing Possum.
- It's implied Tadeusz was the one who killed Johann, Róża's husband.
- New Old West: Not exactly modern setting, but still checks all the other boxes.
- No Name Given: While Julian is named in story, the credits just call him "Władek's son". Played absolutely straight with Władek's daughter who isn't named at all. Certain characters are nameless in-story and we only learn their names from the credits.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When they end up fighting Tadeusz chops Vasyl into thick slices. Literally.
- Noodle Incident: The only family Tadeusz still has is his uncle. He's now in Verkhoyansk. Which means Soviets send him to gulag there, but the reason is never stated and he's only mentioned once.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Suprisingly averted. Turns out that blond Slimeball was in fact the White Sheep of the local State Sec and genuinely tried to help Tadeusz's cause from the start.
- Properly Paranoid: In preparation for the next wave of looters and rapists, Tadeusz creates a minefield on the courtyard of the stead. It ends up ripping one of the looters into bloody pieces and scaring away all the rest.
- R-Rated Opening: The opening scene depicts a rape, directly followed by murder of the victim. And yet, compared with what happens later in the story, it's rather tame.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Movie.
- Red Herring: Tadeusz explains to Róża how to use a handgun but it's Jadwiga who shoots Vasyl.
- Replacement Goldfish: Both Róża for Tadeusz and Tadeusz for Róża, replacing their respective spouses.
- Romancing the Widow: Initially, the only reason Tadeusz, himself a newly widowed man, tried to find Róża was to deliver her the personal belongings of her late husband - something he was asked for by Johann. Then he stays around to help Róża with the farm. Then they fall for each other, trying to find solace in the post-war mess they have to face without their spouses.
- Rule of Symbolism: The three-legged dog, which seems to be Born Lucky despite lacking a front paw, shows up from time to time, during the happier moments. And later turns up dead...
- Running Gag: This one window that gets shattered by explosions. Repeatedly.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Modus operandi for Tadeusz. This eventually leads to capture, torture and getting turned into a wreck by the State Sec.
- Secretly Dying: Róża, because of having been raped so many times and the complications from a rape-induced miscarriage.
- Settling the Frontier: In the most inhuman way possible, by pretending that the locals have suddenly changed nationality. Raping, looting and destroying everything that hasn't already been claimed by the war ensues.
- Show, Don't Tell: Oftentimes, rather than using dialogue-based exposition, a background event happens just to establish the grim situation of the post-war Masuria.
- Signature Style: Extreme violence, diluted colours, rarely applied yet haunting music and extremely Bittersweet Ending one step away from outright downer, all so characteristic for Smarzowski.
- Silence Is Golden: Countless moments Tadeusz shares with Róża, not speaking a word.
- Snow Means Death: And how. People start dying left and right once winter begins. Also, there's a flashback to winter of '44 and Soviet conquest of Masuria - it ain't pretty.
- Spoiler Cover: One of the two posters clearly showed Jadwiga, taking the boat ride with Róża and Tadeusz. While by itself it lacks context, it still comes as a massive spoiler right from the start of the film.
- Take a Third Option: Defied. During small talk, Kazik says the options are either deportation of Masurians or not settling Mazury with Poles. When Tadeusz suggest taking a third option and simply live together, the UB officer laughs in his face for being such naive idealist, rather than understanding realpolitik.
- Time Skip: When Tadeusz is finally released by State Sec, it can be anything from autumn '46 to '48, where the last deportation happened.
- Tomboy: Jadwiga, who acts and looks the part. Even when she wears girly clothes, she is still a tough farmgirl.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Downplayed with Władek, who is more of hindrance than any help to Tadeusz throughout the movie and eventually returns with his family to take the farm over, but doesn't throw Jadwiga out (he easily could) nor tries to interfere when Tadeusz returns.
- Vodka Drunkenski: The Russian corporal who rustles farm animals downs half a bottle of vodka as if it were water.
- War Is Hell: The movie focuses on the worst aspects of it - the abuse of civilians, rape and violation of basic human decency by the victors, along with Dehumanization of the local populace as "class enemies".
- Wham Line:Róża: Go to the attic and call Jadwiga. She's my daughter.
- Wham Shot: The black market trader showing up during Tadeusz investigation... and taking it over as the head of local Bureau of Security.
- Wrong Assumption: When Róża won't allow Tadeusz to wash her when she's bed-ridden and needs constant washing due to recovering from a miscarriage, he assumes it's about modesty; turns out Róża wanted to call her daughter, who was hiding in the attic.
