Review of Essential Killing (2010) by Zvonko A — 24 Sep 2011

Movies with virtually no dialog and very little plot are generally not my thing. Iâ(TM)m all about stories, and the cinematic accomplishments of a film have to be something very exceptional if it is to reach me without a literary narrative. Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski has made a film that Iâ(TM)m happy to say does exactly that. âEssential Killingâ? details the survival struggle of a Taliban soldier who gets taken prisoner in Afghanistan. He escapes his captors during transport into the cold Polish woods, where he wanders with no supplies.

Skolimowski impresses with a nature documentary kind of approach to cinematography; every frame is breathtakingly beautiful, and the overall feel of the piece is authentic if stylized. Vincent Gallo plays along well as Mohammed, the protagonist. And the music! Spot on, I say.

What âEssential Killingâ? achieves is a beautiful level of visual artistry, and a primal and therefore powerful depiction of survival. Mohammed ceases to be a terrorist, a threat, a political entity. He is examined as a human only, in the most basic, biological of ways. Rarely does a film expose us at our most fundamental- most genuine, if you will- the way âEssential Killingâ? does. Mohammed is simply impossible not to relate to, which grants this at first glance aimless exercise its immense strength.