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Promised Land (Director's Cut) [DVD]

Daniel Olbrychski (Actor), Wojciech Pszoniak (Actor), Andrzej Wajda (Director, Writer) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
IMDb7.8/10.0
Additional DVD options Edition Discs
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DVD
October 28, 2003 		—
1
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$36.08 $17.42
Format Color, DVD, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC, Dolby
Contributor Wojciech Pszoniak, Bozena Dykiel, Andrzej Szalawski, Kalina Jedrusik, Tadeusz Bialoszczynski, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka, Marian Glinka, Danuta Wodynska, Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, Daniel Olbrychski, Franciszek Pieczka, Jadwiga Andrzejewska, Andrzej Wajda See more
Language Polish
Runtime 2 hours and 59 minutes
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Product Description

Andrzej Wajda’s interpretation of a classic 19th century epic depicts the sweeping change in values ushered in by the industrial revolution. Three friends hope to build a factory, but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner’s dangerous love affair. Critically acclaimed for its masterful direction and fine acting, this ever-current film has a strong statement to make about modern times. With the master director’s brand new re-edit made possible by Poland’s liberation from Communism. In Polish w/ English Subtitles

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches; 2.4 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Andrzej Wajda
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Color, DVD, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC, Dolby
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 59 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ October 28, 2003
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka, Tadeusz Bialoszczynski
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Vanguard Cinema
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0000AZKJU
  • Writers ‏ : ‎ Andrzej Wajda, Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon User
5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best Polish movie.
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
Without meaning to minimize the status of the three Sienkiewicz movies of Jerzy Hoffman as the crowning achievements of the Polish cinema, I have to agree that this movie is otherwise the best Polish film I have seen. Some critics opine that there is a Marxist slant to the depiction of the capitalist industrialization of post-partition Poland. But I do not see any real difference from what is generally accepted as the history of the US in the same period. In both places OSHA had yet to be invented and workers were exploited by capitalists. I do not say that they were unfairly exploited. Workers benefited from employment. Just that there is truth in the slogan "Live Better, Work Union."
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Norman Brenner
5.0 out of 5 stars A Polish film classic
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019
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Wajda's excellent adaption of a classic Polish novel, filmed on location in many of the actual factories in Łódź (Lodz, if that is illegible). A beautiful recreation of the birth of Polish capitalism, in all its glory and horrors.
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C. Rothlind
1.0 out of 5 stars Great Film-shoddy transfer
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2010
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This complex film deserves to be better known. It belongs with "1900", "The Tin Drum", "Siberiade", and other great historical epics of the 1970s.

Unfortunately it's unwatchable on my HD laptop due to a lousy transfer. Looks okay an analogue television.
8 people found this helpful
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Kaz Wierzbicki
4.0 out of 5 stars A piece of good European film
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2013
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Great European movie ! One of Wajda's best. Very educational - you can learn a lot about industrial revolution in Poland in the 19th century.
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eyedoc
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2018
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excellent item
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JESUS NAVA
5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELENT PURCHASE
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2006
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THIS FILM IS GREAT, IN MY OPINION IS WAJDA'S BEST MOVIE AND THE QUALITY OF THE DVD IS MAGNIFICIENT
3 people found this helpful
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Oposum in the Garden
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterwork, showing part of history of capitalism in Europe
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2008
The movie Promised Land by Wajda is great on many levels: directing, acting, camera work, costumes,etc. Wajda is not disapointing.It shows turbulent times during the XIXc. very well, the extremes of unleashed greed and how people were affected by greed: their own or of the others.
Industrialization brought easier access to goods, but also dramatic changes, not always for the better.

The story of three men,German, Jewish and Polish who become business partners is of course fictional, but of course such partnerships probably existed.And capitalism of XIX c. and the situation in the city of Lodz was bad. The movie is based on a novel, the author of which, Reymont, was working a as clerk for an industrialist in Lodz,and knew the problems first hand. The exploitation of the poor, and the competition between the industrialist was merciless indeed. So,we see abuses of power, sexual exploitation, abuse of trust, and other evils. Reymont's and Wajda's ambition was to show a realistic picture of early capitalism as seen in the example of Lodz, which place magnified the evils even more.

I think in order to understand the movie better, it is good to take in account the history of Lodz, and the role this city played on the map of European capitalism. Geographically, a Polish city, under the control of Russian Empire, it experienced explosive growth after the decree of the tsar helped to make it to the center of weaving industry. I think it fast became the biggest center of this kind in entire Europe. At a price, of course.As the wave of enterpreneurs-emigrants, who were industrialists already, or those whose hope was to make a fortune really fast,there were also the poor who came in desperation but with hopes for a better life. The very bitter realities are shown in this movie, and actually some things may have happened in real life.

As the movie portraying Polish society: the city was very diverse, because of waves of emigration. At some point there were only twenty percent of ethnic Poles in Lodz.So, the movie shows a part of social history in Europe, as Lodz was so unusual in many ways. You probably know that Esperanto, the invented language,was invented by Zamenhoff, a Jew by ethnicity, who lived in Lodz. Zamenhoff wanted to help people to communicate, as there was such a medley of languages, there was real problem: communication across nationalities. I think this fact alone says a lot about the situation in Lodz, it can give impression of chaos which existed there, than.The situation of the poor was really miserable. Linguistic diversity, and poverty i s shown in the movie.

Back to the movie itself:the situation among the rich was not good either, because the predatory practices, which cause so much suffering of the factory workers and their families. The rich couldn't be sure of their future either, as fortunes were made quick, but could be lost extremely fast too. Like the robber barons int he US, the industrialists in Lodz had no mercy for each other.Some of the characters in the movie are more extreme than the others. Should I add that the characterization and acting is superb?

For example Bogucki, the Polish partner in the three ethnic enterprise, is extremely agressive. He comes from a family of Polish nobility, very impoverished, and he worked as a clerk, and he is the poorest of the trio. But, probably because of the relative lack of means, as compared to his partners, he compensates in his lack of scruples. He sells the property on the country, his father and the woman whom he should marry need to be uprooted, that he could invest.Nothing is holly for him, literally, as he even swears on a holy icon (false testimony), in order to deceive. There are bad characters from other nationalities, but Bogucki is the worst.In the end scene when he is presenting his little son, dressed with Oriental decadence, like a little tsar, or Polish magnate of Baroque painting, the viewer has no doubts that the capitalism of those days was not less oppressive and power hungry than feudalism. Actually this scene shows the continuity of the corruption of feudalism carried into new times, on the wave of industrial revolution. Very thoughtful, very well done movie.
10 people found this helpful
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ZW
1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible transfer to DVD
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2012
I know this movie (I saw it in 1975 in movie theater) but I like to see it again. I rented disc from Netflix, started my equipment and.... stopped watching after 10 minutes.
Movie quality is terrible, it is like VHS tape, not S-VHS, just VHS. Terrible.
Don't waste your time unless you really, really want to see this movie and if you don't care about picture quality at all.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Francois Mauss
5.0 out of 5 stars Qualité d'Amazon
Reviewed in France on May 22, 2013
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DVD commandé en 2009 !!!! Et enfin reçu ce jour du 22 mai 2013 !

Incroyable mais vrai et surtout, la bonne nouvelle, c'est qu'il est aussi sous-titré en français. Avec le bémol qu'on est en zone 1 mais tous les lecteurs modernes solutionnent ce point, n'est-il pas ?

Merci Amazon !
2 people found this helpful
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UBoth
4.0 out of 5 stars Correctif à la description
Reviewed in France on February 18, 2011
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Ayant reçu cet article depuis les USA - Edition Vanguard - je signale que le boitier mentionne :
"Director's cut" 138 minutes polish W/English subtitles.
La zone DVD ne figure pas.
A l'usage, le DVD est lisible sur un lecteur "Zone 2" - je pense donc qu'il est en "Zone 0(all)" ; d'autre part les s/titres disponibles sont : Anglais, Français, Allemand, Espagnol, Italien, Russe, Polonais.
C'est une version plus courte de 41 min. que celle exploitée en salle en 1975.
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UBoth
4.0 out of 5 stars Correctif à la description
Reviewed in France on February 18, 2011
Ayant reçu cet article depuis les USA - Edition Vanguard - je signale que le boitier mentionne :
"Director's cut" 138 minutes polish W/English subtitles.
La zone DVD ne figure pas.
A l'usage, le DVD est lisible sur un lecteur "Zone 2" - je pense donc qu'il est en "Zone 0(all)" ; d'autre part les s/titres disponibles sont : Anglais, Français, Allemand, Espagnol, Italien, Russe, Polonais.
C'est une version plus courte de 41 min. que celle exploitée en salle en 1975.
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4 people found this helpful
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martine BENDAHAN
1.0 out of 5 stars Une vraie arnaque
Reviewed in France on July 3, 2015
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Je viens de le recevoir le 3 juillet 2015. J'étais formellement averti de la zone. Mais je le met chez moi (France) mon lecteur est moderne et ça me met "the disc canot not played, wrong region".
Je n'est pas bien compris avec les commentaires positifs sur ma zone. Alors si vous êtes en France, cela est impossible que le dvd marche! Dire que je l'attendais avec impatience.
One person found this helpful
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