Winner, Special Jury Prize, Polish Film Festival in America. Winner, Silver Lions Award, Gdynia Film Festival.

Manhunt finds desperate times calling for desperate measures deep in the forests of Axis-occupied Poland. Anchored by the unforced macho gravitas of Marcin Dorocinski’s hero, a merciless executioner for the Resistance, this sometimes visually and viscerally striking third feature for writer/helmer Marcin Krzysztalowicz is said to be inspired by a real-life figure.

Wydra’ (Dorocinski) is introduced marching a Nazi-collaborating fellow Pole to his fate, and delivering a single bullet to the head. It’s a job to which he’s by now coldly accustomed, hesitating just long enough for propriety’s sake when it turns out his next mission is to serve the same justice to old schoolfriend Henryk (Maciej Stuhr). But before he can follow through, Henryk attempts a panicked escape that results in death nonetheless – albeit an accidental one.

Returning from this mishap, Wydra discovers that, while absent, his entire special-ops unit has been slaughtered. It’s now his obsession to uncover the informer who revealed their secret camp to the enemy, letting no personal ties stand in the way, even if they involve Henryk’s wife (Sonia Bohosiewicz).

Dennis Harvey, Variety