The Third Part of the Night

The Third Part of the Night is Stylish nightmare that feels cold to watch because of the colour temperature.

Let's just say that the main character monobrow man is not in a good State of Mind, The entire movie is so interesting to try to figure out, where the lines between reality and hallucination is.

In this horrible time in Poland I could certainly believe that this was the feeling. Nothing truly makes sense and it feels like the apocalypse is happening And on top of the the main character is feeding lice so we have a fever and sweating.

I enjoyed the movie, I don't think I got the whole meaning out of it. There are so many philosophical dialogues and things happening that some of that went over my head, but the feeling of watching it was phenomenal.

The cinematography was great, the moving of the camera at the long takes the ankles they use, just all of that was great. The acting was also good and especially the main character who was almost chilling when he had his episodes.

The locations and just environment the movie takes place,are stunning and well found. It gives it such a decrypted feeling.

A good movie I didn't get all of the philosophical stuff, but I did enjoy the filmmaking.

Just watched the excellent Second Run DVD release of this film, and I was not disappointed. He must be one of the most underrated directors alive at the moment. In each of his movies (I have only seen two others) he manages to create an amazing cinematic velocity, you are not sure about the meaning and of the plot twists, but you are defenseless against the intensity of the camera-work, editing, performances and staging. He uses film in the way I usually find most interesting, to convey dream states and give fragmented views into other worlds, in that sense he is like Bergman when he was at his best. I can't help comparing the two since Bergmans recent passing and my seeing this film happened almost simultaneously...Watching this film is like experiencing someones nightmare, based in a gritty reality but at the same time far removed from it, and also managing to convey political issues in a non-realistic way. Which is the way I prefer, not ramming it down the audiences throats, but keeping it in the subtext for you to explore if you want.

A film which very much captures what a nightmare feels like; The film does a superb job of really immersing you into the moody and horrifying world and sends you on a confusing 'adventure' alongside Michal. It features some really amazing camera work, some of the best I have seen. But a lot of the religious and philosophical dialogue and themes just didn't click with me, and at times it can seem rather 'silly'. And the ending music seems almost insulting, like "look, we gotcha!" (Cue cool rock music)

The film jumps between time-lines and characters in a somewhat confusing manner with dead figures re-appearing throughout the film, so trying to give a detailed story-line is somewhat pointless. The dialogue is extreme and sometimes absurd, but that only adds to the atmosphere of a character being eaten by lice and perhaps in a fever. The lice thing is based on fact - Polish resistance fighters were happy to put themselves forward for scientific experimentation with lice (in an effort to eradicate typhoid), as no German soldiers would go near them if their cards said that they were involved in the programme. The lice in any case are a symbol of war - people sucking the blood out of each other etc. A chaotic and incoherent film, but amazing first-time direction from Zuwavski. It is all filmed in hand-held camera (usual stuff now, but extremely unusual back in the early 70's), so there is a lot of movement. The film was made in Krakow and the city looks nothing like is now - an empty desolate filthy city of dilapidated grey building. Very Kafka-esque indeed, with stark bleak colours. I liked the film for atmosphere and cinematics, but many will not if they concentrate on the story and often somewhat obscure dialogue.The film was a big thing when it came out in Poland with huge queues to see it by the public - it has lost its relevance today and looks VERY dated (ie. as does all Polish 1970s cinema), but is still an interesting view.

I don't like to treat movies as simply fictions to pass the night, that way lies the habit of simply partaking of culture. The whole point is that we're roped in life by forces that have significance for us - and if film is to be a truthful reflection, it will devise ways to portray this pull, turn it into something we can see.

This is how I welcome Zulawski. It's not because of what he has to say or because themes might be important, here Polish life under Nazi horrors. Similarly I don't reject him because stories are muddled or the acting is hysteric. I welcome him because he can use the eye of the camera to rope forces that move us.

On the surface this is a glimpse of anguished life during WWII, but not the mock historical type that seeks to enshrine bygone events in pious ceremony. This is one that speaks very much about anxiety that haunts the soul now in this very life, rending the air with dread and confusion. Horror that is very much present and didn't go away with the war but still lingers. He would rail - more or less covertly - against a repressive Soviet regime in later films as well.

So he's angry with god that won't manifest, he shouts dejection at a broken state of things, everything he would become known for is already present here, fully formed as template. But no answer can be found in the mind that despairs and clamors and none would suffice to explain anything. No his power is that he can show these things truthfully for what they are, confusion as confusion, ignorance as ignorance. So of course the narrative becomes oblique, muddled, sense takes flight and we're left with fragments.

He's still striving to burst forth here, not yet channeling madness through the eye to alter how we see. That would come to him in due time. But everything you need to know about him you'll see in the very beginning of this first film.

A man's wife and child are taken from their house one day and murdered in the yard; evil that swoops over this world and wrecks lives. He joins the resistance and immediately people are chasing after him and shooting to kill him, agents of that evil.

So he hides in an apartment building and by a chance turn of fate, police arrest someone else in his place, someone with the same color of coat who was going up the stairs to a pregnant wife. In a stunning turn he helps the wife give birth, becoming the husband who was taken away.

Jancso and Tarkovsky were previous masters of the floating eye who could maintain equanimity in the face of horror and misfortune; he is ruptured by it, splintered in selves. But it's still the same deep roar from the engines of consciousness that propels him.