Dir: Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Polish, historical drama. 151’. 1966
Eastern Europe during the sixties wasn’t all black & white socialist realism. Jerzy Kawalerowicz, for example, made ‘Pharoah’ in colour and widescreen. The two and a half hour epic centres on Rameses XIII and his clash with Egypt’s clergy over money while its depiction of a slave state presiding over the downtrodden masses would have complied with the current party line.
Strange as it may seem to see Ancient Egyptians speaking Polish, Barbra Bryska was certainly no more improbable than Joan Collins in ‘Land of the Pharaohs’. @RichardChatten
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