Kapitan Kloss

After returning from England I've found it difficult to get back into speaking my basic Polish. New things don't seem to stay in my head and with the bureaucracy at work causing me a great deal of iritation - I've been searching for things to both relax me, entertain me and develop my Polish at the same time. Which is critical as I'm up to my neck in reports at the moment and I'm desperate for some solid, but time effective entertainment.


I've tried reading Polish books and watching Polish films but I've not really been passionate in the subject material so learning through them becomes a chore. Don't get me wrong, Polish cinema is very good indeed but I've decided what I really need is either a Polish film like a Bond film or a Polish book like a le Carre novel. The fruits of my research? Agent J-23 - A.K.A Kapitan Kloss or Stanisław Kolicki.


Stawka większa niż życie, was an 18 episode Polish television series, which was also adapted into a comic. The series tells the story of the Polish intelligence services replacing a captured German agent (Herr Kloss) with a Polish look-a-like. the 'new' Kapitan Kloss (codenamed J-23) then returns to Germany to cause havoc during WWII as a Polish mole. The premise sounds very much like something I'd be interested in as I adore books by Le carre and Fleming. In fact, the Le Carre novel I'm reading at the moment has a small segment based around the Polish intelligence service. I once read a crime novel in German and it was one of the best ways I've experienced to learn new words so hopefully Kapitan Kloss can repeat the same for me in Polish. 


I'm downloading the series and trying to find the comics in my local library as we speak. I'll keep you updated how I rate the series and comics as tools to develop your Polish.


Anybody else with suggestions for typically 'blokeish' books or films for me to read in Polish?

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 17:54

    I'm sure you're going to enjoy J-23 a lot :)

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  2. odrzut12 January 2011 at 07:30

    Check out this movie http://www.filmweb.pl/Jak.Rozpetalem.Druga.Wojne.Swiatowa
    it's less serious than "Stawka większa niż życie", but it's good, and it's about war, too.

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  3. Pan Steeva12 January 2011 at 09:45

    The two other main TV series are Janosik, the nice bandit fighting nasty nobles (also a film) and Czterej Pancerni i Pies, where a Polish tank crew win the Second World War. They, like Kloss, are constantly on TV. An example of CPiP is at video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7625403001365263079#

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  4. TeflSecretagent13 January 2011 at 09:52

    Thanks for all the suggestions. Just watched the first episode of SWNZ, and I loved it... brilliant. Not sure how much I understood so I'll watch it a few more times or get the wife to help me out.

    Reading my first Kapitan Kloss comic now...

    ReplyDelete

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