"Polish-Ruthenian War Under the White and Red Flag" directed by Xawery Żuławski, based on Dorota Masłowska's famous novel of the same title, caused quite a stir in the film world. Loudly commented not only by the audience, who was very eager to go to the cinema to see the movie, but also by film critics, who took different positions on the film.
First of all, the very successful attempt to translate Masłowska's very difficult novel narration into film language was appreciated. The movie was a faithful adaptation of the book, and at the same time brought out interesting visual effects from it. Additionally, critics praised the originality of the language, that the heroes use, stylized as the speech of chavs and blockers: full of repetitive phrases that sometimes resemble media slogans, vulgar and emotional. In addition, praise went towards the actors, especially Borys Szyc, who played the role of Strong perfectly, and Sonia Bohosiewicz, of Nata's film. Film critic, Tadeusz Sobolewski, in one of his reviews, underlines, that these heroes: “they live in a completely flattened world, condemned to be consumers of finished products, they themselves become products”. They live in a world controlled by the mass media and get completely consumed by this worthless pop culture mush, while feeling the slow degradation of this reality.
Critics have also often pointed out the original form of the film. In their film concepts, the creators use the aesthetics of kitsch, comics, video clips, popular TV shows. It is showing the world in deconstruction, ironic and abstract commentary. Sobolewski points to “pop culture tone" of the film. Another critic, Paweł Felis, points out, that the film adaptation of "Polish-Ruthenian War" is “nie paszkwil na dresiarską mentalność, but a picture of the cluttered Polish mentality”.
The conventionality of the depicted world aroused the greatest enthusiasm. Sobolewski calls the film "Polish pulp fiction". Małgorzata Niemczycka writes about film in her article "Masłowska filmowa"., as "a disturbing story about the mystery of the existence of the world". Jakub Majmurek goes a bit further in his interpretation, he writes: “Poland at Żuławski and Masłowska is a sad place on the periphery of global capitalism, where not only the walls of the police station, but every institution, every existence seems untrue in some way, unreal, wobbly at the base. It is the dustbin of capitalist globalization, where the waste of global production builds up on the ruins of our history."
The most negative critical reviews were for the film's plot, which was considered too flimsy and defective. Some pointed out the long and somewhat pretentious dialogue (Lukasz Muszyński) and in the style of Żuławski, which for some it seems to be “a bit hysterical and mannered” – Anna Kilian.
