the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

So this week, Antoni Krauze’s Smolensk.

After a horrific plane accident wipes out a significant portion of the Polish political class, people begin to question the official narrative. Nina is a journalist who initially sets out to confirm the official story, but who begins to spot gaps and lacunas, all of which point to something a little more sinister.

At time of recording, it was ranked 35th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 26th September 2021.
• Note: This was the first in-person recording we’ve done with a guest since the pandemic started. It happened at a time when case numbers were low, and precautions were taken.
• Smolensk at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB Bottom 100 as it appeared at time of recording.
• James Shotter and Henry Foy at the Financial Times place the Smolensk conspiracy theory in its political and historical context, April 2020.
• Christian Davies at Foreign Policy discusses of the death of President Lech Kaczynski reshaped Polish politics, April 2016.
• Liam Nolan at The Atlantic explores how the Smolensk disaster fundamentally affected Polish politics, November 2012.
• Anne Applebaum at The Atlantic examines the legacy of the conspiracy theory and the breakdown of public trust in Poland, October 2018.
• Artur Domoslawski at The New York Times discusses the use of the Smolensk conspiracy theory as a new religion to galvanise a new Polish nationalism, November 2013.
• Radio Poland reports on early plans to make the movie Smolensk about the plane address, December 2012.
• Dan Bilefsky at The New York Times looks at the political fallout around the production and release of Smolensk, May 2013.
• The Gdynia Film Festival announces a special gala screening of Smolensk, September 2016.
• Nicholas Kulish at The New York Times reports on a wave of Eastern European reckonings with the legacy of Cold War oppression, February 2012.
• David Filipov at The Washington Post reports on the mysterious deaths that may have been ordered by Vladimir Putin, March 2017.
• Scott Anderson at GQ looks at allegations around the Russian apartment bombings that justified Russia’s interventions in Chechnya, March 2017.
• Pat Paterson at The U.S. Naval Institute discusses the reality of what happened at the Gulf of Tonkin, February 2008.
• Zaria Gorvett at The BBC reports on the appeal and lure of conspiracy theories, May 2020.
• Jillian Kramer at National Geographic reports on why people believe in conspiracy theories, January 2021.
• Robert Daniels at The Guardian reports on Jon Voight’s appearance in Roe v. Wade, March 2021.
• Alissa Wilkinson at Vox talks about the persecution complex that underscores so much evangelical cinema, April 2018.
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Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: antoni krauze, conspiracy theories, Movie, Poland, qanon, Smolensk, The 250, The Bottom 100 |