Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Operation Hyacinth

Original title: Hiacynt
  • 2021
  • TV-MA
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
4.8K
YOUR RATING
Tomasz Zietek in Operation Hyacinth (2021)
Robert, a young policeman "out of principle", finds a serial gay killer. In the course of the investigation, he meets Arek. She decides to use him as an informant, not realizing how much this relationship will affect not only his work, but also his personal life.
Play trailer1:47
1 Video
10 Photos
CrimeDrama

Poland, 1985: Not satisfied with the result of a murder investigation, a young officer in communist Warsaw sets out on his own to discover the truth.Poland, 1985: Not satisfied with the result of a murder investigation, a young officer in communist Warsaw sets out on his own to discover the truth.Poland, 1985: Not satisfied with the result of a murder investigation, a young officer in communist Warsaw sets out on his own to discover the truth.

  • Director
    • Piotr Domalewski
  • Writer
    • Marcin Ciaston
  • Stars
    • Tomasz Zietek
    • Hubert Milkowski
    • Marek Kalita
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    4.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Piotr Domalewski
    • Writer
      • Marcin Ciaston
    • Stars
      • Tomasz Zietek
      • Hubert Milkowski
      • Marek Kalita
    • 27User reviews
    • 20Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:47
    Official Trailer

    Photos9

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 6
    View Poster

    Top cast45

    Edit
    Tomasz Zietek
    Tomasz Zietek
    • Robert
    Hubert Milkowski
    Hubert Milkowski
    • Arek
    Marek Kalita
    Marek Kalita
    • Edward
    Adrianna Chlebicka
    Adrianna Chlebicka
    • Halinka
    Tomasz Schuchardt
    Tomasz Schuchardt
    • Wojtek
    Sebastian Stankiewicz
    Sebastian Stankiewicz
    • Maciek
    Jacek Poniedzialek
    Jacek Poniedzialek
    • Dignitary
    Piotr Trojan
    Piotr Trojan
    • Kamil
    Agnieszka Suchora
    Agnieszka Suchora
    • Ewa
    Tomasz Wlosok
    Tomasz Wlosok
    • Tadek
    Miroslaw Zbrojewicz
    Miroslaw Zbrojewicz
    • Commander
    Andrzej Klak
    Andrzej Klak
    • Agent with a scar
    Adam Cywka
    Adam Cywka
    • Professor Mettler
    Jakub Wieczorek
    Jakub Wieczorek
    • Sleuth
    Filip Perkowski
    • Taxi Driver
    Michal Pawlik
    • Karol
    Michal Wierzbicki
    • Pathologist
    Michal Balicki
    Michal Balicki
    • Constable
    • Director
      • Piotr Domalewski
    • Writer
      • Marcin Ciaston
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews27

    6.84.8K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    7andrewchristianjr

    FACT-BASED.

    This is a really tight fact-based drama based on a true chapter from the ignominious past of communist Poland. Beautifully photographed and set in a bleak Warsaw winter. Good performances all around and a compelling narrative make this stand above gay persecution tropes that often accompany similarly themed motion pictures.
    7brockfal

    Gritty and revealing

    It's still in the news today how badly the LGBT community can be treated in Poland, and this fact is echoed in this thriller set during the latter years of communist rule in that country (1985-7) when, apparently, a campaign was set up against the community by the authorities. Those looking for a straight forward thriller will be disappointed, as although those elements are there, and are grittily and realistically done, it seems to me that the film is a lot more to do with identity, freedom, and of course sexuality, focusing as it does on the central character, a young policeman sent by his prejudiced superiors to investigate the murder of a known gay. The end result is a drama on many levels which some might feel is heavy handed, but which I found quite absorbing.
    8kigaiyuuto

    Good thriller

    Glad to be just a newborn during that period of time (1985-1987) from what I saw on this movie.

    It is successful in painting bleak and grimy days of communist Poland and it is respectful to every party involved, even the police/militia lol.

    Good job to everyone involved. IMO this is better than other similarly themed Netflix original movies: Dance of 41, Dear Ex and I Am Jonas.
    9sergepesic

    Impeccably Done

    !980's Poland. The cracks in the repressive system are showing everywhere. This is a time when Solidarity, the trade union becomes a force to reckon with. The era of ideals has long gone, nobody believes in the Communist "paradise", least of all communists themselves. All that's left is naked repression. And they certainly knew how to repress. Among many other monstrous ideas was to make list of known homosexuals and force them into collaboration. "Operation Hyacinth" is an impeccably done film-noir. The set-up might be quite familiar, lone wolf policeman fighting for justice, but this drab, gray world of the Iron Curtain Poland is starting to shift and change giving a glimpse of things to come. Long path from Communism to ultra-catholic right-wing nationalism might seem like a colossal waste of time, but the bare fact of this movie being made, shows that better things are coming. The old repression didn't win in the end, the new one will fail too. Sooner or later.
    8danybur

    A dark time in Polish history successfully told

    Summary

    What appeared to be a Polish version of Cruising at the beginning is definitely not. It is a successful neo noir, controversial due to its subject matter for a Polish fiction, which recounts a police investigation into a period during which thousands of homosexuals and heterosexuals related to them were persecuted, mistreated, booked and sometimes compulsively detained. This is another of those films that strongly recreates that oppressive period climate, but also everyday "behind the iron curtain".

    Review:

    During the 1980s, while the Polish police and secret service carried out Operation or Action Jacinto, the young detective Robert (Tomasz Zietek, with an air of Polish Alain Delon) faces the investigation, as an undercover agent, of a murder in the underground gay community in Warsaw. Despite the rapid "solving" of the case under pressure from the SB (Polish intelligence and secret police, in which his own father is a colonel), Robert insists on carrying out the investigation and will do so for more than one reason.

    What appeared to be a Polish version of Cruising at the beginning, is definitely not. Piotr Domalewski's film is a neo noir in which Robert's research poses challenges to the system that are later enhanced by more personal ones that are added. It is controversial for a Polish fiction to relate a police investigation referring to a period during which thousands of homosexuals were registered in a compulsive way from raids in a framework of denunciation so expensive to Stalinism and police brutality and that gave rise to all kinds of extortion. In other words, Operation Jacinto appears as the background of the investigation and not as the plot axis of the film. Perhaps for this reason, his denunciation is more powerful since he paints a whole period painting.

    This is another of those films that strongly recreates that period climate "behind the iron curtain." The staging uses a photograph and a successful eighties soundtrack and the police and personal intrigues of the detective (although they contain some predictable elements) are very well concocted and carried out, supported by the acting solvency to which we are accustomed to Polish fictions.

    More like this

    Dance of the 41
    6.8
    Dance of the 41
    Nuovo Olimpo
    7.2
    Nuovo Olimpo
    Cobalt Blue
    6.6
    Cobalt Blue
    I Am Jonas
    7.0
    I Am Jonas
    Norwegian Dream
    6.4
    Norwegian Dream
    Mario
    7.4
    Mario
    Your Name Engraved Herein
    7.3
    Your Name Engraved Herein
    Floating Skyscrapers
    6.3
    Floating Skyscrapers
    I Carry You with Me
    6.7
    I Carry You with Me
    Doi Boy
    5.5
    Doi Boy
    Luz
    6.6
    Luz
    Fireworks
    7.6
    Fireworks

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      [last lines]

      Robert: Run!

      Arek: What?

      Robert: Run!

      Arek: What about you? I won't go without you.

      Robert: I'll find you. Run.

    • Soundtracks
      Voyage
      by Brian Bennett

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ16

    • How long is Operation Hyacinth?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 13, 2021 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Poland
    • Official site
      • Netflix Site
    • Language
      • Polish
    • Also known as
      • Operación Jacinto
    • Filming locations
      • Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
    • Production companies
      • Shipsboy
      • Haka Films
      • Appetite Production
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 52m(112 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.