Szwadron
8 /10 1 Votes8
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Szwadron is a Polish historical film directed by Juliusz Machulski. It was released in 1993. The film was selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Contents
Plot
Period war drama. A highly fictionalised account on the exploits of the Russian Imperial Army Regiment of Dragoons of Novorossia and Don Cossacks during Polish January Uprising in 1963. A young Russian Count Fyodor Yeryiomin joins his Regiment as a Lieutenant in May 1863. He finds friends, enemies and love... but, above all, he finds doubts...
Historical inaccuracies
Apart from being generally inaccurate on the actual history of any of the squadrons of the Regiment of Dragoons of Novorossia itself, the movie shows total lack of historical accuracy on technical, tactical and political levels. Apart from the Regiment's uniforms (but not the hue of the horses - which was all black at the time), the only half-truth is that the commander of the 4th Squadron major Tchutya actually ordered his troops to ignite the village of Yourkowicy on 20 October 1863 — upon "insurgents" retreating in to the village and starting firing at his troops from the mostly wooden huts of its inhabitants.