Znachar ( Quack ) a great must watch old school soviet times Polish classic movie worhty to see

Tuesday, 5th September 2017

znachor-znachar-movie-a-great-must-watch-old-school-soviet-times-polish-movie

My wife recently recommended a fantastic old times movie from the distant 1981 called Znachar (translated in English as Quack).
The movie is directed by Polish director called Jerzy Goffman though made in 1982 the movie premierre happened in 1982, the story plot behind the movie is based on a book from polish writer and journalist Tadeusz Dołęga Mostowicz novel Znachor.

The movie is actually a remake of older movie called under the same name Знахарь (a naturally divine gifted herbal medicine doctor).

Movie Plot

The story goes in the middle of first and second World Wars with main actor being a famous surgeon a professor in medicine Rafal Vilchur.
When back from a hard surgery operation in his county house just about to great his wife with a big bucket of flowers he finds out he is abandoned by his life, reading a letter in which she says she leaves him because she fall in love with another man, his wife takes his daughter with him and as a result of the shocking event the surgeon walks the streets hopeless still uncapable of realizing and properly evaluating his tragedy, he meets a beggar to whom he gives a lot of money and the beggar brings him in a pub and they do a heavily drinking together as a way to forget his great misfortune.

Being deadly drunk he walks out and a gang of drunkards seeing him paying with a big bucks and finding out his richness, they put him in a carret and smuggle all his money throughing him out of the city after robbing him to the last penny.
Being throughn of the carret the professor hurts his head and loses his memory, and once he wakes up and finds himself in the middle of nowhere he realizes he did not remember anything including who is he. As the robbers steal all his money and documents and he is out of the town with no ability to remember he wonders in villages and seeks to find any kind of job that can win him his daily bread.

He lived in that noman manner a couple of years and the police has catched him trying to figure out who is he but failed to identify him and even put him in jail for few weeks on the occasion he is living illegal with on identity.

Having the experience of a kind of hermit life in the woods, in one of his next catch ups by police and their rude way to try to identify him he is able to steal a documents laying on the police table that belonged to an already dead person called Anthony Kosiby and from that moment on he starts identifying under Anthony Kosibiy's name.

Even though Anthony did not remember his real identity he feels his ability to help sick people.
He starts working in another village he wanders to in a family of a small wheat orthodox christian producer called Prokop.
The only left living son of Prokop Vasiliy is since a couple of months has become a disabled due to accident and the failure of the uncaring local doctor Pavlickogo who has improperly joined his leg bones, after Vasiliy's broke his legs.

Anthony has realized the doctors failure as he still holds his subconcsious ability for surgeon and a professor. Kasiba convinces Anthony's father to agree on a improvised operation with another breaking of legs. As Vasiliy's legs gets healed, rumors all around the village spread about the natural healer and self learned doctor. 

As a mean to payback Prokop wants to reply a huge sum of gold money to Kasiba but as Casiba is already unattached to money and he only needs a play to work and stay he asks his master Prokop to keep him in his home as a part of family to whose offer Prokop happily agrees.

A mobs of sick people start coming to the newly found herbalist and a "witch doctor" for healing and all finds confort and healing this makes the quack even more famous and known all around the region.

Nearby in the village there is a small grocery store where Kasiba buys the basic goods necessery for his healing and improvised operations.
Kasiba finds himself attacted with unexplained symphathy to the young orphanned sells lady named Marusya. Marusya's beauty impresses all the young villages. In one of his visits Kasiba hears from Marusya a known melody he heard but he can't recall where he heard it but it deeply affects his soul and slowly this songs starts cherishing some memories.

The local village and nearby region state doctor Pavlickij happens to meet Anthony and because of jealousy for Anthony's success he makes prank and threatens him to expose his fraudulent medicine practices believing truly that Anthony is one of those self proclaimed doctors earlier prohibited by Polish government for the many harm these which doctors did to conventional medicine. Pavlickijy requires Anthony to immediately cancels his medicine practices or otherwise he will be exposed to police authorities.

Anthony uncareful about the prisoning threatens replies the doctor with words such as "People live in priso too". But even as the talk between two goes Vasiliy the healed lepper boy from Anthony the ex-disabled comes along and shows in front of Pavlickijy walking and even dancing and the doctor cancels his bullying instantly telling how Anthony managed to heal him.

In mean time Marusya the grocery store sells lady is being visited by a local royal count young person who falls in love with her and gives his best to attract Marusya, another local waiter guy is also in love with Marusya and a hidden competion emerges between the two.

Marusya is doubtful about the love relatio with the royal count named Leshek Chinsky. Chinsky is dressed impressingly has a good manners and all in village is amazed with his strange affair with the village orphan Marusya.

Chinsky fells in love so strongly that he makes even an offer to Marusya to which of course Marusya is doubtful. The family of count Chinsky is against the relation and does its best to cancel the untrustful and unequal relations between his royal song and the village girl.

In mean time the waiter guy named Zanek who is also after Marusya and wants her hand. Marusya dates Zanek 2 times and partly she things this relation could end up even with a marriage but her heart is still with the county.

Because the the improsed shop datings between count Chinsky and Marusya are continuing publicly among his friends Zanek led by his envy for not having Marusya's heart publicly insults her and accuses her of her secret sexual relation with the count as Chinsky becomes accidently witness of the mockery he stands on Marusya's side and rejects the badfull lies of Zanek ending up beating him publicly because of his blatant and improer behavior and shortly after he makes official marriage offer to Marusya in the small grocery store.
The two them ride on Chinsky's motorcycle (noone in village has a motorcycle as all are poor), as they ride near a small lake and share their feelings for each other Zanek is drunk and in want for revenge, so he puts a chunk of tree on a bridge hoping to kill Chinsky. 

For his amusement and misfortune Chinsky is riding with Marusya on the back of the cycle and because of the three both fall in a crash and both are in a state near death.

Zanek understanding his fault and scared for his soul being endangered to have been worthy for eternal hell because of the killing quickly takes the two injured and unconscious lovers to the quack Anthony as a last hope for help.

Anthony seeing the two patients and understanding his ability to fully manage the dying persons and scared about possibility to be responsible for the death of the lovers quickly calls for a conventional doctor for help.
Doctor Pavlickij comes but again consumed for his arrogance and the unequal state in society of the two gives his best to heal Chinsky and is not too willful to heal the poor village girl Marusya.

In the mean time Anthony manage to help the count and for the luck of the count his state is much better and he is about to recover, where on the countrary Marusya is in a state of dying with a bone being stuck in her brain.

Anthony asks the doctor for an a help and all Pavlickij does is to give her a heart support injection and he leaves.
Anthony seeing the surgeon instruments in Pavlickij and with no hope for a surgery intervention from the coventional doctor, remembers his professor surgeon skills and decides steals the doctors instruments and makes a perfect operation removing the bone out of the brain of the young lady.

In morning the operation makes clear it is perfectly made and the Marusya comes to a conscious perfectly normal in mind. As she is now jobless for leaving the shop for her offer for marriage she stays to live with Propop's family.

Soon Pavlickij finds out his surgeon instruments are gone and comes hearing about the successful operation to Marusya suspects about the steal by Anthony and comes with a police.
The quack is an honest man so he confesses about the steal but he explains the steal with the need for the immediate operation.

The police catch the stealer and there is a quick court session to whom he is judged to stay 3 years in prison.
In mean time count Chinsky managed to recover completely being sent in Switzerland and is travelling back with train back to Poland hopeless because told by his family that Marusya is dead and convinced that life is meaningless without the love of Marusya. The count decides for a love suicide and writes a suicide letter to his family asking one of the servents to hand it in to his family and preparing to kill himself with a gun.

By the providence he leads a small talk with the servent person by whom he finds out that Marusya did not die but live in Prokops family.

Being shocked he takes a carret going out of the train and hurries to Prokops family with a large bucket of roses.

The two lovers bind together and they soon marry. As a way to thank Anthony Cassiba, count Chinsky and his family (which finds out about the suicidal intentions of their son and finally agree for the marriage), hire a bunch of experts to inspect the professional surgeon lead by Anthony and to defend him in court once again trying to release him.

Again by providence the expert which does evaluated Anthony's operation who has to confirm the success of the operation over Marusya, happens to be one one of professor Rafal Vilchur (now living under the namy of Anthony) and in the middle of trial he hears by Marusya's testimony the family name of Marusya which is also Vilchur.

At that moment the surgeon expert and ex-colleague recognizes his missing for 15+ years professor  and colleague Rafal and identifies him. professor Rafal Vilchur finds out the young lady he just operated is his lost daughter and he is crying out of joy.

The movie is a touching one and shows a lot of how people used to live in the age before technology and electricity took over human life.
It has a deep meaning and a charge of good and the happy end in the movie makes it so different from a lot of the modern especially American movies, which nowadays end up with a messy and unclear ends without any moral to get out of it.

 

Watch the 2 series movie below and enjoy I promise you will not regret you watch it I promise ! 🙂

 

Here is a link to Quack in IMDB the IMDB movie rating is quite high 7.9.

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One Response to “Znachar ( Quack ) a great must watch old school soviet times Polish classic movie worhty to see”

  1. vimore says:
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