Watching the 1935 funeral of Józef Piłsudski

Is it worth watching?

Honestly, only if you have a thing for old newsreels or Polish history. If you need a plot, clear dialogue, or something that moves faster than a slow march, you will probably fall asleep within five minutes. But if you want to see what 1935 actually felt like, this is a weirdly hypnotic experience.

The whole thing is just a collection of shots from the funeral week. It is grainy as all get-out, but that just adds to the feeling that you are watching ghosts walk down a street. There is no narrator trying to tell you how to feel, which is kind of refreshing in its own way. You just get the music, the crowd, and the endless line of soldiers.

The weight of the silence

There is this one shot of the casket being moved that goes on for a long time. You can see the exhaustion on the faces of the people in the crowd. It reminded me a bit of the heavy, uncomfortable silence in The Light at Dusk, where the camera just refuses to look away.

The faces in the crowd are what stick with you. Everyone looks like they’re waiting for the sky to fall. It’s not like those modern reenactments where everyone is posing for the camera. These people are just... there. Grieving or bored or just caught up in the crush of it all.

• The sheer number of horses is honestly distracting.
• The camera work is jumpy, like the guy holding it was shaking.
• The way the light hits the medals on the uniforms is weirdly sharp compared to the blurry background.
• Sometimes the frame shakes and I thought, did he trip?

It’s funny how movies like The Devil's Brother feel like they are from another planet when you watch them back-to-back with this. One is all about jokes and stagey acting, and this is just raw, unedited life—or death, I guess. It’s a bit gloomy, but it stays with you longer than most big-budget dramas do.

I found myself staring at the background extras more than the main ceremony. One guy in the back just keeps adjusting his hat. He doesn't know he's going to be on a screen nearly a hundred years later. It’s weird, right? 🕯️