Austeria (1982) User Reviews (3)

Very good

[Kuba_D · 8/10 · 12 December 2006]

The first day of war in 1914, an austeria - which is an inn - near one of the Galician roads. Jewish runaways from the nearby town seek shelter in here. There are the bourgeoisie and the poor, radicals and religious Hasids. Somewhere near there are fights going on, fires starting, Cossacks preparing for battle, but in the inn passions and feelings blossom. There are arguments and the uncalm looks cross. There are also ritual dances of the Hasids, who are unaware of the danger. The old innkeeper Tag, a wise and experienced man, realizes the vague of the situation and decided to fulfill his moral duty to the end.

The movie, based on a novel (1966) by Julian Stryjkowski (1905-1996), is a nostalgic, poetic and cruel vision of the history and culture of the Polish Jews with their believings, traditions, legends and original humor.

"We wanted" said Jerzy Kawalerowicz "the film to be a movie of great metaphor, similar to a passionate, dynamic painting, which shows the world of Jews a moment before the tragical doom." "Austeria" was announced to be one of the best movies of the director - the movie won the Gold Lions at the festival in Gdańsk.

Lovely, elegiac

[keithshakun · 9/10 · 13 July 2010]

How differently different people can observe and embody a film. An earlier review finds this film distasteful and full of anti-semitism, yet I had the opposite reaction. I felt I was observing an Issac Beshevis Singer short story of the old world on the other side of those destructive wars of the 20th Century. I found the lives of these Jewish people on the cusp of WWI sympathetic, real and alive. The fact that human passions, lust or longing fill their minds and hearts, at times, seems all too human. Yet, especially the inn keeper and the young man, they are also caring and sensitive souls who love and express this in various forms. The Hassidic are both profoundly spiritual and a bit absurd (to our secular eyes) dancing, singing and rejoicing even as the war comes closer to destroying the world they knew, which, as we know, was true. I found this vignette a touching, sensitive, wise portrayal of a moment in time that no longer exists, on the cusp of the end of an era. Rather than being anti-Jewish in any way, I found it an earthy and touching expression of that eastern European world that perished in time.

awful polish film about polish Jews during WWI

[sh_bronstein · 1/10 · 4 February 2009]

The film "Austeria" is a horrible film smacking of the most common forms of anti-Semitism. From the very first scene, which focuses at the noses of a group of Jews, you get the impression that they chose their cast on account of the actors' noses. It is sickening to see the stereotype of "big Jewish noses" in a film, and even worse to see how they emphasize this constantly. The different characters seem to reflect common anti-Semitic prejudice, for example Bum, Tag and Asia's mother - play "the lascivious Jews." Bum tries to seduce a Asia in the forest while people shoot each other around them, she tries to escape him and gets shot in the process. Tag, the inn-keeper, has an affair with a Christian Polish "Shiksa" who parades half-naked in his inn throughout the film. Asia's mother cries for her daughter, who has just been killed, and finds herself laying in the hay with a Hungarian Hussar just minutes later... Well, so much for the "lascivious Jews", the "frum" ones, the Hasidim who withhold from such sinning, are not any better in this film. They get everyone in danger by singing and dancing as the Cossacks are nearby and could find them any minute. They don't care that there are people mourning around them, or that they all could get killed for their imprudence. They sing and dance to their deaths - naked. The absurdities go on with a Tsaddik who rarely speaks, and when he does he only says platitudes or things that don't make sense. Then there are, of course, the Christian Poles who constantly try to save the Jews - only to be rejected. This is a ridiculous and shameful film. I felt nauseous after watching it. The whole narrative is brainless and, as I said, reflects prejudice and anti-Semitism.