Recommended Film: The Debt
Recommended Films. Polski Noir. Crime Fiction. Andrzej Chyra Krzysztof Krause. True Crime. Poland,
The Debt (1999), directed by the late Krzysztof Krause and written by Krause and Jerzy Morawski,stars Robert Gonera, Jacek Boruch and the splendid Andrzej Chyra.
Based on a true story, it takes place in Poland’s dark economic hinterland after the fall of communism and before its more recent rebirth. The Debt tells the story of Adam and Stefan, a couple of young likely-lads from Warsaw, who come up with the smart idea of manufacturing Italian scooters on the cheap in Poland and making a fortune selling them to the Italians.
They first go to the bank for a loan but are swiftly refused. Then they encounter a well- off acquaintance, Gerard (Chyra), who offers to lend them the funds to start -up their business in exchange for a share of the company profits.
So far, so good but when they later decide that Gerard is asking for too much, and back out of the proposal, things really go pear shaped.
Gerard bizarrely starts harassing them for the money that he never even lent them, saying that they were already too far into the deal to back out. It then becomes painfully clear that Gerard is a vicious gangster and things spiral horribly out of control from then on.
The Debt is like a knee to the groin – a naturalistic, hard hitting and chilling story with a great, charismatic performance from Chyra.