Thoughts on “Król” (The King of Warsaw) TV Series.
Review Summary:
While slow to begin and occasionally stalled by the series’ narrative structure, the television adaptation of Szczepan Twardoch’s novel excels in bringing to life 1930s Warsaw with strong dramatic performances by the cast, an intriguing plot, and excellent set design.
Background:
I recently saw advertisements for Król on Australia’s SBS OnDemand. I had never watched a Polish television series prior to Król, and so my interest was piqued in seeing how Poland tells its stories through the television medium. As someone with an interest in history, the opportunity to view a story set during the Interwar Period in a country which had emerged from the collapse of a European continental empires was intriguing. The numerous references to the Polish-Soviet war in the series have given me a push to read Norman Davies White Eagle Red Star, which languished on my bookshelf for too long.
As a disclaimer, I had not read Szczepan Twardoch’s novel before watching this series, and so am unable to comment about how faithful the television adaptation has been to the source text. My following thoughts are my honest opinion based purely upon my experience of viewing the series.
Plot:
It is 1937 and the clouds are closing in over Europe. Janek ‘Buddy’ Kaplica (Arkadiusz Jakubik) is the crime kingpin Warsaw, the Polish capital. Controlling a high-end brothel and loansharking operation amongst the impoverished within the city’s Jewish community, Kaplica has ascended to a position of social and political prominence with historical connections to Poland’s Prime Minister. Standing by Kaplica as his right-hand man is soon to be retired boxing champion Jakub Szapiro (Michal Zurawski). Threats however are emerging to Kaplica’s control of Warsaw, and the Polish Government more generally. From the outside, the right-wing Phalanx Organisation are fighting pitched battles with Kaplica’s trade union on the city streets. From within, Kaplica must be wary of insubordination from his own lieutenants as they eye opportunities to expand their own authority. As the tempest looms, the main characters, their families and bystanders are going to be drawn into a story of violence, betrayal, lust and power. Who will emerge as the “King of Warsaw”?
Acting Performances:
Król is bolstered by strong performances by all the cast, who all embody their characters and give them distinct personality. Particular standouts for me were those by Arkadiusz Jakubik (Janek Kaplica), Michal Zurawski (Jakub Szapiro), Lena Gora (Anna Ziembinska) and Boris Szyc (Janusz Radziwilek).
- Jakubik’s Kaplica radiates the confidence of a man who knows he in charge. Whilst not a man of great height, in each of his scenes Kaplica is able to tower above others and be the focus of attention, with the presence Jakubic is able to bring.
- Zurawski’s Szapiro is a brooding, handsome man of many emotions: alternating between stony-faced as he demands payment from debtors, tender as he embraces his family and anguish as he comes to terms with some of the decisions he makes. Zurawski greatly impressed me with his convincing performances in each scene weaving athletically around the boxing ring in one scene, while flirting confidently with a glamorous woman in the bar in another. Zurawski brought commitment to the role and delivered.
- Gora’s Ziembinska is a confident and beautiful woman. Her facial expressions while she converses with Szapiro were a standout scene for me. While her character’s biography (the daughter of a powerful Polish prosecutor) suggests she would never be seen with someone like Szapiro in a working-class bar where the scene takes place, Ziembinska in her glamorous dress puffs away at her cigarette and downs drinks with a nonchalant confidence of someone jaded with the decadence of the late 1930s. Gora deserves significant credit for bringing her character to the fore.
- Last but not least, Szyc’s Radziwilek (or, “the Doctor”) is an unnerving presence in many of his scenes. Szyc skilfully brings the menace of Radziwilek, whose character’s stilted Polish and occasional blending in of German words could easily have become a parody. Radziwilek’s coldness as he and his subordinate Edward (transliterated as Eduardo in the SBS subtitles) interrogate a war veteran who wrote a critical article about Kaplica is a truly disturbing scene. As a viewer, I could believe that Radziwilek would be a lieutenant who Kaplica could trust the most unpleasant of tasks to.
Set Design:
The set locations for Król provide interesting points of reference for me as a viewer. The imposing facade of the Prime Minister’s offices, the intimately dimmed lighting of the restaurants where the powerful main characters dine, the austere city streets where street fights take place, and the beautiful home of the Ziembinski’s set amongst the trees, each individually emanate the feeling of the 1930s. Interior shots have rooms decorated and furnished with features commensurate to each character’s social status in 1937. The location coordinators and set designers of Król deserves applause for their attention to detail.
Cinematography:
I thought that the cinematography of Król was very beautiful. In many of the scenes, particularly interior shots where characters are navigating buildings and their surroundings, there appeared to be an effort to incorporate natural light to the shots. The end result are that the actors appear ‘natural’ without their skin being bathed in a different tone. Some shots, which are temporarily absent of characters before they walk into frame, could be a great desktop wallpaper.
I enjoyed also the choice by Król’s cinematographer to include long-takes in numerous episodes. Too many television shows and films today have taken the route of using rapid cuts which make the action disorienting. One particular take that I enjoyed was a take that captured the conversation between characters pacing around a boxing ring. Amidst the background noise of the crowd, we are invited to into the conversation and the energy of the moment.
Criticisms:
Narrative Pacing
The only criticisms which I have of Król are the choices for the series narrative pacing.
For me, much of the first two episodes dragged. The setting up of the narrative’s premise could have been done, in my opinion, within a single episode. One particular character’s presence (whom I shall not name due to potential spoilers) in the series for four episodes, could have been cut down to one or two without cost to the narrative. Whether the character in question was essential in Szczepan Twardoch’s novel I do not know. As a viewer, I felt the prolonged presence of the character to be an unnecessary element to the plot as a whole.
Another decision which irked me as a viewer was the incorporation of ‘flash forwards’ and ‘flashbacks’ into some episodes. I have never been a fan of these types of narrative decisions, irrespective of the medium a story is being presented in. When you show a character is alive in the future, any sense of danger for that character within the present narrative. Any ‘danger’ which the character subsequently faces has fewer stakes because you know that they will survive.
Moreover, when you have come from a very dramatic moment and want to see what follows, the flash forward and flashback only serves to disrupt the narrative’s pace. The exposition included in these scenes I believe could have been included at the beginning of the story to make the story more linear. The choice by the director to include some of the ‘big reveals’ in the flash forwards and flashbacks, whilst explaining some questions I had as a viewer, came across as heavy handed. One particular scene revealing a character’s identity, whilst explaining the character’s subsequent actions throughout the series’ final act, nevertheless felt like an annoying red-herring presented to viewers. The flash forwards from each of the episodes could have been put together into its own dedicated segment at the end of the series and the narrative would not have suffered, making for a stronger ending.
Another minor criticism is that while all the flash forwards are presented in a stark black-and-white picture (and so are apparent when they are taking place), some of the flashbacks are not afforded the same denotation or even a date annotation. One scene showing a character’s childhood from 1914 was not readily apparent until a character mentioned that Russia had declared war on Germany. Whether this was an omission by SBS to denote, or a choice by the director, resulted in a temporary confusion that I could have done without.
Ambiguity as ‘Smart Storytelling’
In Król, the fate of one character, whilst I am reasonably certain of, occurs off-screen. For a series which does not shy away from demonstrating violence, the choice to not even show the character’s fate out of frame seemed to be abrupt and out of step with the tone of the series. Critics in the mainstream media will often laud the inclusion of ambiguous endings almost invariably as ‘brilliant’ and ‘inspired’ decisions of narrative genius. Although art is indeed subjective, I am of the belief that leaving the fate of characters to the ‘audience’s imagination’, is rarely a good method of storytelling. While I am not one to demand that everything be narratively spelled out to me, there appears to be a trend today that character fates in television and film are left on ‘ambiguous’ moments which provide limited satisfaction.
Conclusion:
Król is an excellent viewing experience which really picks up narrative steam in Episode 3. Unafraid of presenting the brutality of the criminal underworld, Król is a compelling experience. The characters, setting and cinematography superbly set the tone of 1937 Poland and demonstrate the skill and talent of the nation has for storytelling. Apart from narrative decisions which I feel occasionally stall the narrative’s momentum, I would recommend the series and I hope to watch more productions from this part of the world in the future.
Rating: 8/10