You've rarely seen a movie like Jerzy Skolimowski's "Essential Killing". Vincent Gallo (of "Buffalo '66") plays an escaped POW from Afghanistan who roams the European countryside in midwinter hoping to be able to survive in this unfamiliar setting. The absence of dialogue - except for a few lines - gives the film an especially surreal feel. There's no particular political message. The message is: when you're on your own, you'd better have your wits about you.This is the first Skolimowski movie that I've seen. I'm impressed. I hope to be able to see more of his movies. In the mean time, I recommend this one.Also starring Emmanuelle Seigner (Roman Polanski's wife).

*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS This has to be one of the most pretentious and dullest movies I have ever seen. Director Jerzy Skolimowski once made a great drama "Moonlighting". Unfortunately most of his work are arty movies that are hardly watchable. This one is no exception.This movie was obviously made to cash-in on the negative attitude towards America , after the world found out about Guantanamo and possible secret CIA prisons for terrorists in Poland . It's a story about Afghanistan terrorist who gets caught by USA army. His transported to prison in Poland , yet there's an accident and he manages to escape. Will he manage to survive ? "Essential killing" is quite nicely photographed and short (not even 1 h 30 minutes). The acting isn't bad . Vincent Gallo plays the main hero (anti-hero ?) and Emmanuelle Seigner makes a brief appearance near the end of the movie. Other actors are unknown , possibly even amateurs.The biggest problem with "EK" is it's a terribly shallow movie that has only one thing to say – killing is wrong. Well , at least that's the only thing that I understood after watching it. And quite probably there is some message that American soldiers are evil . I wouldn't mind a movie against violence and killing , but "EK" is completely devoted of any emotion. It's as cold as snow that appears in it.We don't get to know anything about our hero – his probably a fighter and has a wife in Afghanistan . That's the only thing that flashbacks told me about him. The movie seems to be full of symbols . What's with the white horse ? It's supposed to symbolize death . Our hero at the beginning of the movie looks like Jesus , while his wife(?) reminds of Maria . Or maybe that was unintended ? Was the ant eating supposed to be a symbol ? I don't know and I don't care.If you want to wasted your time on something simplistic , boring and pretentious watch "Essential killing". I give it 1/10.

An Afghan POW attempts his escape , but he is captured by the US military in Afghanistan , he is named Mohammed (Vincent Gallo) and is transported to a secret military black site somewhere in the Eastern Europe , being transferred for interrogation (David Price as interrogation officer) at a installation similarly to Guantanamo . When the armed convoy which transports to him suffers a crash accident , Mohammed manages to getaway from his captors , as he escapes across a steep hill, among snowy outdoors and freeze landscapes . Relentlessly chased by an army that officially does not exist, , Monhammed attempts to survive when he finds a countrywoman named Margaret (Emmanuelle Seigner) . This frenzied movie contains pure action-packed , thriller , suspense , frozen hell and thought-provoking moments . This exciting picture results to be a co-production between Poland|Norway|Ireland| Hungary and deals with an interminable chase in which the protagonist finds himself suddenly free and on the run behind the enemy lines , being relentlessly pursued by American troops on a continent he does not know , that seems to see somewhere in the Eastern Europe . Awesome interpretation by Vincent Gallo as Mohammed , a man who must constantly confront the need to murder in order to survive . Gallo is superb as a real Taliban as physical as playing . Vincent Gallo's role demanded him to do things like walk barefoot on the snow with the temperature reaching minus 30 degrees Celsius. In the breastfeeding scene, Vincent Gallo insisted on getting a real lactating woman for the role. Furthermore , there appears in a secondary role Emmanuelle Seigner , Roman Polanski's muse and wife . While some characters are named in the end credits, no names are used in the film itself . Very good and colorful cinematography by Adam Sikora , showing splendidly hostile, snow blanketed forests and cold landscapes . Emotive and sensitive musical score by Pawel Mykietyn . The motion picture was compellingly directed by the Polish Jerzy Skolimowski . He is a prestigious director, playwright, scriptwriter, painter and actor . And one of the best Polish filmmakers along with Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda , both of them are good friends . As Skolimowski has directed good films such as ¨Adventures of Gerard¨ , ¨Deep end¨ , ¨The shout¨, ¨The lightship¨ , ¨Success is the best revenge¨ , ¨Torrents of spring¨ , among others .¨Essential Killing¨ rating : Good , better than average , worthwhile watching .

To avoid spoilers, avoid this review: This film has some positive aspects, there parts of it that are quite nice to look at, snow, trees, mountains, some grass.Otherwise it's pretty much nonsense.The characters are without much consequence, the main, the escaped Taliban terrorist, says nothing, and basically just grunts most of the time, all the while killing various people (including a dog).The story is timeless of course, some guy being chased by some other guys. Other than that, it's inane.There's no real dialogue, since there isn't any real dialogue. Just a lot of strange wandering through the snow of a Talib trying to go somewhere that he doesn't know where. Maybe that's existentialist. The only people who say anything are angry Americans or some Polish guys who also get killed by this guy. And he seems to be the one that is the sympathetic one.How a Taliban managed to get to trying to escape in Poland is an odd concept. Not that it's bad, I suppose. The film lacks story, lacks point, lacks really anything except a grunting protagonist not doing much of anything, except getting lucky a few times during his dubious journey (the Americans take mercy on him, the travel vehicle turns over, letting him escape, being able to fall into a Polish river and escape from tracking dogs, not being shot by a standing number of guns, the list goes on and on, and it get sort of boring).Not a good movie.