Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Getaway King’ on Netflix, The Stylish Story Of A Famous Polish Thief And Escape Artist

The Getaway King (Netflix) is a fun romp out of Poland about a guy with a knack for executing a good caper and a benevolent streak that elevates him to man of the people status in Communist-era Warsaw. Getaway is inspired by the life of the real Zdzisław Najmrodzki, who was pardoned for his crimes in 1994. But it leaps into a stylized Iron Curtain rabbit hole of its own design. 

THE GETAWAY KING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In the Communist-era Poland of 1988, toilet paper is a luxury, and long queues for basic goods are common. There are luxury items to be had, and high-quality Western products, but they’re only for sale in state-authorized Pewex shops, and can only be purchased with American dollars. Life is difficult. But not for Zdzisław Najmrodzki. “Najmro” (Dawid Ogrodnik, Ida) circumvents the state’s economic woe and the exclusivity of Pewex by robbing the retail chain blind with the help of his crew, Antos (Jakub Gierszał), Mloda (Sandra Drzymalska, Sexify), and Teplic (Andrzej Andrzejewski). He dresses well, accessories, and dances it up at Warsaw’s swanky Hotel Varsovia. Najmro is a man of luck, not business. Why not? After all, what is business under Communism’s boot heel? “If that state can’t provide,” he says, “I have to.”

The Getaway King is based on the exploits of real-life criminal and Polish folk-hero Zdzisław Najmrodzki, who was said to have escaped the clutches of the Citizen’s Militia 29 times. Director Mateusz Rakowicz takes that reputation and runs with it, imagining Najmro as a carefree, charismatic figure who loves the adrenaline rush of a good heist but is fueled mostly by his amused curiosity. He coasts on his notoriety, too, both with the public – they think of him as an Iron Curtain Robin Hood – and the police. Potential capture would be no problem, because he’s savvy enough to escape. It might even be fun. And so, when the night of another Pewex job arrives, and the crew synchronizes their watches (including a few fine examples of Casio’s legendary run of plastic and chrome 1980’s digital timepieces), Najmro isn’t expecting any heat. But Lieutenant Barski (Robert Więckiewicz) is savvy, too. A car chase ensues and Najmro is captured. For the first time.

After their quarry escapes, to the embarrassment of Barski and the hapless Sergeant Ujma (Robert Więckiewicz), the militia is even more keen to shut Najmro down. But he has a whole new racket on the outside: boosting FSO Polonez liftbacks and selling them at Warsaw’s open-air car market. Najmro is also getting pretty serious with Teresa (Masza Wągrocka), and considering life beyond the realm of thievery. One last job could do it. But he lands back inside the big house, and rides out the fall of the Berlin Wall, the election of Lech Walesa as President, and Poland’s transformation into a market economy from inside a jail cell. This time, whether he’s pardoned or he escapes, the world Najmro returns to will be entirely new.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Is Poland just full of beloved criminal folk heroes? How I Fell In Love With a Gangster is director Maciej Kawulski’s partly fictionalized account of the life of Polish crime kingpin Nikodem Skotarczak. And speaking of Lech Walesa, Robert Wieckiewicz played the Polish statesman in the 2013 biopic Walesa: Man of Hope, which competed for a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 86th Academy Awards.

Performance Worth Watching: Everybody changes when 1989 hits and Communism croaks, including Antos, who goes from being an eager but restless member of Najmro’s crew to becoming a ruthless enforcer for a skinhead gang. Jakub Gierszal doesn’t get enough screen time to truly invest in Antos’s darker side, but what he does do is powerful and terrifying.

Memorable Dialogue: “They’ll let me go when I leave the stage,” Najmro assures Teresa. He’s convinced that the state is only after him to prove a point to the public about who’s in charge, and that any prosecution wouldn’t stick. “One last job,” he says, with the confidence of a professional criminal who thinks he’ll finally be the guy to outlast that cliche. Teresa isn’t having it. “You’re not gonna make it.”

“Wanna bet?”

Sex and Skin: Najmro and Teresa consummate their burgeoning romance in a steamy scene full of stylized visual edits.

Our Take: The references to heist film canon in The Getaway King are gleeful and direct. Steven Soderbergh’s editing aesthetic is a near constant, there’s a Rififi name drop, and even a whiff of Heat, when the cops give away their position and the crew walks away from a job without stealing anything. That referentialism combines with a rich color palette and dynamic camera work – swirling circular takes, extreme low-angle shots, and a flair for shooting moody, exciting car chases – to largely remove Getaway from any kind of reality, even if it is inspired by a real guy. Communist-era Poland is an imagined landscape of stark, silent government and tenement blocks, brash interiors imported from an ad hoc version of the 1970’s, and a never ending stream of Eastern Block automobiles, from the omnipresent FSO Polonez, to Ladas, Trabants, Skodas, and ZAZ Zaporozhets. Later, after the Wall falls, BMW sedans enter the picture, and set up the Getaway King’s penultimate Beemer-on-Beemer car chase.

Dawid Ogrodnik is having loads of fun here as Zdzisław “Najmro” Najmrodzki. He moves through life with an inquisitive gleam in his eye, a sly half-smile, and a flair for mischief-making that’s magnetic. Plus, he’s a clothes horse, and Getaway gives Ogrodnik the best looks. When the crew is casing the sales floor of a Pewex, you really want him to try on each pair of glittery mirrored aviators on the spindle. It all ties back into The Getaway King being more about style than biopic substance, or even the laws of filmmaking. It gets lost inside its own world, and beckons you to do the same.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Getaway King is a visual treat, and a fun ride through its version of Communist-era Poland, where Najmro is the gallant criminal with professional panache and a flair for outwitting the law.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges