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Operation Hyacinth Polish neo-noir

What Operation Hyacinth (Hiacynt) does with a murder case is quietly brutal: Robert, a young officer in 1980s communist Warsaw, is chasing whoever is killing gay men, and the trail keeps sliding into state surveillance, blackmail and political corruption. Tomasz Ziętek plays him, Hubert Miłkowski is the student Arek he works the case with, and the deeper they dig the clearer it gets how far the regime's apparatus stretches over Poland's gay community. The title isn't decorative either, since the real Operation Hyacinth was a communist-era campaign of watching, registering and intimidating gay men, and the film builds its thriller out of that. Piotr Domalewski directs, Marcin Ciastoń wrote the script, and the result sits in Polish neo-noir territory, gritty and atmospheric. What it keeps pressing on is desire that has to stay hidden, who you are, who sells you out, and what it costs to go looking for the truth. Secrets, repression, and the sheer stubbornness of wanting to live freely anyway, all against a historical backdrop that haunts the frame 🍿 Love was a crime in COMMUNIST POLAND, some secrets should stay buried 👀

1h

Kimon@kimon

Follow

Operation Hyacinth Polish neo-noir

What Operation Hyacinth (Hiacynt) does with a murder case is quietly brutal: Robert, a young officer in 1980s communist Warsaw, is chasing whoever is killing gay men, and the trail keeps sliding into state surveillance, blackmail and political corruption. Tomasz Ziętek plays him, Hubert Miłkowski is the student Arek he works the case with, and the deeper they dig the clearer it gets how far the regime's apparatus stretches over Poland's gay community. The title isn't decorative either, since the real Operation Hyacinth was a communist-era campaign of watching, registering and intimidating gay men, and the film builds its thriller out of that. Piotr Domalewski directs, Marcin Ciastoń wrote the script, and the result sits in Polish neo-noir territory, gritty and atmospheric. What it keeps pressing on is desire that has to stay hidden, who you are, who sells you out, and what it costs to go looking for the truth. Secrets, repression, and the sheer stubbornness of wanting to live freely anyway, all against a historical backdrop that haunts the frame 🍿 Love was a crime in COMMUNIST POLAND, some secrets should stay buried 👀

1h