Scarborn

Pawel Maslona's 2024 Polish film is set in the spring of 1794. General Tadeusz Kosciuszko returns to the country planning to raise an uprising against Russian rule by mobilising nobles and peasants together, accompanied by his friend Domingo, a former slave. The film is not built as a historical epic. Kosciuszko's real problem is not the enemy but his own side; the nobility does not want the peasants armed, and the obstacle to the uprising is class. The narrative says so openly. The tone is mocking in places and anachronistic elements are used deliberately; the music and editing are contemporary. Bartosz Bielenia and Jacek Braciak are in the cast. The battle scenes are large in scale but the film gives its real attention to the arguments in camp. Who it's for: those interested in Polish history and period films that are not classical. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a linear, reverent historical account; the film breaks that manner on purpose.