''The Magic Mountain'' is a 2015 Romanian animated drama film directed by

Anca Damian Anca Damian is a Romanian film director, writer, and producer. She has directed the film ''Marona's Fantastic Tale'' (originally, "L'extraordinaire voyage de Marona")., released in 2019. Damian has also directed the film Moon Hotel Kabul, fo ...

. It tells the story of Adam Jacek Winkler, a Polish

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

who in the 1980s fought against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

, alongside

Ahmad Shah Massoud ) , branch = Jamiat-e Islami / Shura-e Nazar Afghan Armed Forces United Islamic Front , serviceyears = 1975–2001 , rank = General , unit = , commands = Mujahideen commander during the Soviet–Afghan Wa ...

. The film was co-produced with French and Polish companies. It was made using a mix of animation techniques and Winkler's personal photographs, sketches and film footage. The English-language version of the film stars

Jean-Marc Barr Jean-Marc Barr (born September 27, 1960) is a French-American film actor and director. He is best known for working on several films from Danish film director and frequent collaborator Lars von Trier since ''Europa'' (1991). Early life and edu ...

as the voice of Winkler. The film received a Special Jury Mention at the 2015

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

. Damian envisions the film as the second part in a trilogy about heroism, after '' Crulic: The Path to Beyond'' from 2011. In 2015 he obtained the prize ANIMAFICX section of the 53rd International Festival of Gijon. In 2016 the film won Grand Prix - Best Feature Film award at the 26th edition of

Animafest Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb ( hr, Svjetski festival animiranog filma), also known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Fil ...

- World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb.

Cast

as Adam Jacek Winkler (English version) *

Christophe Miossec Christophe Miossec is a French singer and songwriter born in Brest, Brittany, France on December 24, 1964. Beginnings Christophe Miossec was not new to the world of music when he met his first great success. Between 14 and 17, he was in a teen ...

as Adam Jacek Winkler (French version) *

Lizzie Brocheré Lizzie Brocheré (, born 22 March 1985) is a French film, television, and theatre actress who began working as a child actress in 1995. She moved to English-speaking roles in the early 2010s, with appearances in dark comedic and dramatic pieces ...

as Anna Winkler

Reception

Boyd van Hoeij of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' found the early parts of the film, before Winkler reaches Afghanistan, to be messy and too light on facts. He also found the mixed technique problematic: "While this approach shows off the versatility of Damian in different media and visually suggests something of the protagonist's agitation and anarchic streak, this choice works against the film because the narrative itself is also restless and somewhat haphazard, at least for the film's first half." Hoeij wrote that Winkler's "emotional journey or journeys are never quite made tangible".

References

External links

* 2015 biographical drama films 2015 war drama films 2015 animated films 2015 films Biographical films about military personnel Romanian animated films Romanian biographical drama films Soviet–Afghan War films 2015 drama films Animated films set in the 1980s Animated films set in Afghanistan Films directed by Anca Damian Films about Soviet repression {{war-drama-film-stub