''Essential Killing'' is a 2010

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

survival Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...

political thriller film A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The ...

co-written and directed by

Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wykol' ...

and starring

Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo (born 1961) is an American actor and director. He has had supporting roles in films such as ''Arizona Dream'' (1993), ''The House of the Spirits'' (1993), ''Palookaville'' (1995), and '' The Funeral'' (1996). His lead roles include ...

and

Emmanuelle Seigner Emmanuelle Seigner (born 22 June 1966) is a French former fashion model, singer, and actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'' (2007), ''The Ninth Gate'' (1999) and '' Frantic'' (1988). She has been nominate ...

. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the

67th Venice International Film Festival The 67th annual Venice International Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from 1 to 11 September 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was the head of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Darren Aro ...

, Golden Ástor Award at the

Mar del Plata International Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fest ...

as well as the Golden Lions Award for Best Film at the

Gdynia Film Festival The Gdynia Film Festival (until 2011: Polish Film Festival, Polish: ''Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych w Gdyni'') is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk (1974–1986), now held in Gdynia, Poland. It has taken place every year sinc ...

Synopsis

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

is captured in the desert after attacking U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and then tortured and brutalized in a secret detention center. He finds himself transported to Poland, along with other prisoners. He manages to escape into the vast frozen woodland, a world away from the home he knew. In order to survive, he kills some of those who stray into his path and forages for food both from nature and from those he encounters. A woman gives him shelter, treats his wounds and feeds him before sending him back out into the wilderness. He departs on a white horse and, as the first shoots of spring are seen through the snow, appears to die.

Cast

as Mohammed *

as Margaret * Zach Cohen as American Contractor 1 * Iftach Ophir as American Contractor 2 *

Nicolai Cleve Broch Nicolai Cleve Broch (born 14 November 1975) is a Norwegian theatre and film actor. He rose to national fame playing one of the leading roles in the 2002 drama series ''Lekestue'', which aired on NRK in 2002. He is also known for playing the prota ...

as Helicopter Pilot 1 * Stig Frode Henriksen as Helicopter Pilot 2 * David Price as Interrogating Officer * Tracy Spencer Shipp as Young Soldier in

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...

* Mark Gaspersich as Head of Pursuit Team * Phil Goss as Military Doctor * Klaudia Kąca as Woman on a Bicycle * Dariusz Juzyszyn as Logger * Raymond Josey as American Soldier * Robert Mazurkiewicz as Hunter * Janusz Woitarowicz as Margaret's Husband * Paweł Baranek as Drunk Farmer 1 * Marcin Gałażyn as Drunk Farmer 2 * David Jefferson as American Soldier * Donnell Knox as American Soldier * Geo D. Olivier as American Soldier * Kamil Ruszecki as Soldier * Stanisław Marek Łukasik as Soldier * Jérôme Dassier as SUV Driver * Gier Marring as Fisherman * Brandfjellet's Herox as the dog fighting with Mohammed

Production

''Essential Killing'' was shot in Israel, Poland, and Norway from December 2009 through to February 2010. The film saw Jerzy Skolimowski reunite with

Jeremy Thomas Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE (born 26 July 1949) is a British film producer, founder and chairman of Recorded Picture Company. He produced Bernardo Bertolucci's ''The Last Emperor'', which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he rece ...

, who produced his feature ''

The Shout ''The Shout'' is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It was based on a short story by Robert Graves and adapted for the screen by Skolimowski and Michael Austin. The film was the first to be produced by Jeremy Thomas under ...

'' in 1978, which went on to win the Grand Prix du Jury at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Skolimowski had been searching to replicate the conditions of his previous film, ''

Four Nights with Anna ''Four Nights with Anna'' ( pl, Cztery noce z Anną) is a 2008 drama film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It stars Artur Steranko and Kinga Preis. It tells the story of a man who visits a woman in her sleep. The film had its world premiere as the o ...

'', most of which was filmed near his home in the Polish Masurian forests. He had heard of rumored (and later revealed)

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

use of the nearby Szymany Airfield for flights carrying prisoners from the Middle East. Subsequently, Skolimowski skidded off the road during winter while driving a four-wheel drive vehicle. Noticing he was two kilometers from Szymany, it occurred to him that the same could easily happen to a prisoner transport and, from this, he found the initial inspiration for the ''Essential Killing'' scenario. He shared a draft script with

who encouraged him to think beyond the modest local production Skolimowski had initially envisioned and the project grew, with Thomas as an executive producer, into a multi-national coproduction made under challenging circumstances: "In general, the working conditions were very difficult. Most of the movie was filmed at −35° in the high mountains, where you can not get even with a Snowcat. We had to practically climb to the set: the entire crew has suffered much about the situation, it was certainly the most difficult film I ever did. Vincent Gallo has had the most thankless task of all, having to run barefoot in the snow at those temperatures." Aware of the potential political overtones of the film, Skolimowski initially nearly dismissed the project as being "too political", he strove to make it non-political: "The political aspects of the situation didn't interest me: to me politics is a dirty game and I don't want to voice my opinions. What is important is that the man who runs away is returning to the state of a wild animal, who has to kill in order to survive." The film is deliberately non-specific as to locations: "I don't even say whether the film starts in Afghanistan, Iraq or maybe some other place, whether it's an American military base, where the prisoners are kept, whether it's situated in any of those countries. I don't say whether the plane which is landing somewhere in Europe is really landing in Szymany, in Poland." As was also true with his protagonist's identity: "There is something in the facial features of Vincent Gallo that is difficult to identify. Nobody knows where he is from. I was hoping that even if Vincent would not be perceived as a native Arab or a Muslim, he would still be the 'different' one, not someone from here, not someone from there. Besides, it could be someone like John Walker Lindh, the famous Californian who became a Taliban member and joined Osama bin Laden's forces." This enigmatic quality is furthered by the fact that the protagonist does not utter a single word during the course of the movie. Moreover, while some characters are named in the credits, no names are used in the film itself.

Festivals and awards

''Essential Killing'' received its world premiere In Competition on September 6, 2010 at the

. At the closing ceremony on 11 September 2010, the film won the Special Jury Prize, and Best Actor (the

Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

), for

's wordless performance as a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

insurgent, in addition to the CinemAvvenire Award for Best Film In Competition (voted by a non-statutory youth jury). Gallo was not present to receive his award, which was accepted on his behalf by Skolimowski, who urged the actor to come out of hiding in the audience and take the stage. It was the first time in the Festival's history that two major awards had been bestowed on a single film. At a press conference, Jury President

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

revealed that he had asked Festival head Marco Mueller to break the rules in order to honor the film, a change that will carry on into future editions of the Festival. The film went on to win the

Golden Astor The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fes ...

for Best Film and Best Actor, and the

Argentine Film Critics Association The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...

Critic's Prize at the

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

's most relevant competitive festival) and to screen in Official Selection at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

Festival do Rio The Festival do Rio is an international film festival in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-mo ...

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

London International Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

and was selected as the closing film of both the

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Festival of European Cinema and the 22nd edition of the Polish Film Festival in America in 2010. The film took the top prizes at the 2010

Polish Film Awards Polish Film Award, or Eagle ( pl, Polska Nagroda Filmowa, „Orzeł”) is a film awards ceremony given annually since 1999, with the first event held on 21 June, by the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers (KIPA). Since 2003 they are given ...

in Warsaw and swept the top awards at the 2011

Polish Film Festival The Gdynia Film Festival (until 2011: Polish Film Festival, Polish: ''Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych w Gdyni'') is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk (1974–1986), now held in Gdynia, Poland. It has taken place every year sinc ...

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

. It was also nominated for the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

of the

Belgian Film Critics Association The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium. History The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...

. Wins *

**Special Jury Prize **Coppa Volpi for the Best Actor: Vincent Gallo **CinemAvvenire Award: Best Film In Competition *25th

Mar del Plata Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fest ...

**Golden Astor for Best Film **Silver Astor for Best Actor: Vincent Gallo **ACCA Award (Argentine Film Reviewers Association): Best Film in the International Competition *13th

**Eagle for Best Film **Eagle for Best Director: Jerzy Skolimowski **Eagle for Best Music:

Paweł Mykietyn Paweł Mykietyn (Polish pronunciation: ; born 20 May 1971) is a Polish award-winning composer and clarinetist. By the year 2012, Mykietyn had written two symphonies, cello, piano and violin concertos, St. Marc Passions for soprano, narrator, c ...

**Eagle for Best Editing: Réka Lemhényi/Maciej Pawliński *36th

**Golden Lion for Best Film **Best Director: Jerzy Skolimowski **Best Cinematography: Adam Sikora **Best Music: Paweł Mykietyn **Best Editing: Réka Lemhényi/Maciej Pawliński *11th Sopot Film Festival **Grand Prix

References

External links

* *
''Essential Killing''
in

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