Polish history, in English

>> Edges of the Lord is a decent morality tale of Nazi-occupied Poland

by JOANNE LATIMER

Is it a crime to make a movie in English when it's set in Nazi-occupied Poland? That question doesn't go away when watching Edges of the Lord, which is screening as part of this year's Polish Film Festival. Edges of the Lord is about doomed city folk from Krakow and country peasants--all of whom speak English with a Polish accent of belaboured thickness. Adding to the strangeness of it all, there are Polish subtitles running along the bottom of the film.

But would the film get funding otherwise? Probably not. Director Yurek Bogayevicz has made three films in the U.S., so compromise is by now second nature. He studied at the Warsaw College of Dramatic Arts, but moved to L.A. and made Exit in Red (that groaner with Mickey Rourke and Carrie Otis), Three of Hearts and his best film, Anna.

Edges of the Lord is undoubtedly Bogayevicz's most personal project--the one he couldn't make until he paid his dues working on dogs like Edges in Red. It begins with a Jewish father teaching his son the words to the Hail Mary so the boy can pass for a Catholic. The mood is dire and the parents panic when a peasant arrives early to take their son to the country for safekeeping. The boy, Romek, is pushed into a potato sack and driven out of town in a cart of vegetables. On the journey, he peeks out from the sack and sees the Nazis shooting a Jewish teenager for no apparent reason. Romek sinks back into the sack, fully understanding his situation. He has to hope the other villagers don't rat him out to the Nazis, or he's dead.

Romek is played by Haley Joel Osment. You know him--that child actor who impersonates perfect kids. (Is anyone taking bets on this poor guy having pharmaceutical troubles by his late teens?) He has a deliberate Polish accent that doesn't exactly trip off his tongue, but he has considerable star wattage, as does Willem Dafoe, the swaggering and pragmatic village priest. Osment and Dafoe find themselves in the middle of a very European tragedy, trying to fit in. They do, for the most part, and Edges of the Lord becomes a decent story about sacrifice and the slippery nature of wartime morality.

Edges of the Lord screens this Friday as part of the Polish Film Festival at the Imperial. See repertory listings for details