‘Spoor‘ Is a Powerful Mystery Weaved With Animal Rights Vigilantism

Spoor (Pokot in Poland) film poster.

Janina Duszejko is a heroine unlike any other. An older, joyful spirited woman with bright eyes and long silvery white hair in frequent schoolgirl braids, she has a deep compassion for animals, creates the most enticing bowls of colorful dishes, and teaches English to younglings whilst also taking them into the dangerous, icy cold wild of Klodzko Valley. She is knowledgeable about plants and quite resourceful to all of mother nature’s secrets. When the hunters in town start gruesomely dying off, Duszejko holds the key to the daunting mysteries.

Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat) with her beloved students.

A distraught Janina putting up signs in hopes of finding her missing dogs.

Now if Okja was the magnificent, under appreciated champion of mass consumptive meat industry, Spoor is the picture that showcases horrific injustice of glorified animal hunting. Like Okja, Spoor also shares graphic senseless violence which humans are conditioned to accept and celebrate. These rush time paced scenes are bloodier, intense, and heartbreaking. Most of the film takes place in infinitely stretched forest, overwhelming the modest population. The story illustrates a man's desire to conquer by killing heart of mother nature, destructive and remorseless beings using guns to shoot anything that moves. Thus, when the body count rises, when hunters turn into victims, the question is not who is performing the vengeance or why this is happening, but the how. And the how is a striking, pivotal element that audiences have to pay immense attention to.

Agnieszka Holland (left) and Kasia Adamik (right) holding onto the Alfred Bauer Prize also known as the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Winners of Berlin Film Festival’s prestigious Silver Bear Award and Poland’s choice for Best Foreign Film representation at this year’s Oscars, Agnieszka Holland and her daughter, Kasia Adamik have created an astounding work of art together. Holland, having been previously Oscar nominated for her screenplay of Europa, Europa, has penned and directed episodes of House of Cards, The Affair, Treme, The Killing, Cold Case, and films such as In Darkness, Julie Walking Home, and The Secret Garden. Up next for her is Charlatan and Gareth Jones and TV series’ 1983 and The First. Adamik is not only a storyboard artist, she wears other miscellaneous production hats in forms of writing, directing, editing, etc, working in various Polish film and TV series.

Janina (Agnieszka Mandat) always finds beauty in nature. 

Besides gripping murders, Spoor has two charming love stories of young and old. The cinematography is absolutely stunning— picturesque mountain caps, captivating foliage coated in snow and ice, and again Duszejko’s scrumptious food. The writing by Holland and Olga Tokarczuk is solid-- with humor, suspense, charm, and a pleasant ending.

Spoor is worth the watch for the powerful message alone.