Richard J. Brzostek - 08/30/2010 
How I Unleashed WWII (Jak rozpetalem druga wojne swiatowa) is a classic Polish comedy broken into three parts. The story begins on the night before the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The main character, Franek Dolas, believes he started World War II by a mishap he caused. Franek overslept while on a train that entered the German border and fired a shot at a German. From there all hell broke loose and the war erupted, while Franek was quickly captured and sent to a POW camp.
In part one, our hero wiggles his way out of the German prison camp and treks across Europe to Greece, hoping to rejoin the Polish army. He makes some friends as well as trouble along the way. From there, in part two, he is forced into service in the French Foreign Legion in the Middle East. He manages to escape their service and joins the British, which has some of my favorite parts of the movie. Franek even manages to single handedly take on the Italian army. The story concludes, in part three, with Franek returning to Poland.
Franek Dolas could be aptly described as an accident-prone guy that has just as much bad luck as dumb luck. He uses his wits to confront his difficulties but manages to bumble his way out of trouble despite it anyway. As you can imagine, this movie is hilarious and is one of those classics that never gets old.
Jak rozpetalem druga wojne swiatowa is written and directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski. Despite being a war movie, it is so not serious that it appeals to even those who are not interested in the war. Although How I Unleashed WWII is probably Chmielewski’s best-known film, his other well-known movies include Nie lubie poniedzialku (1971) and Wiosna, panie sierzancie (1974). |
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