Written by Lara Marto

Vinci (Poland Film) was screened on Nov. 6th under the umbrella of the 21st European Film Festival, which has been taking place since Nov. 1st at the Hussein Cultural Center in Ras Al Ain. The festival adds to the cultural scene in Jordan by screening films from 15 European countries for the public in Amman, Aqaba and Karak free of charge. You can still catch films until Nov. 16, twice daily, at 5:00pm and 8:00 pm each featuring a different film.

Vinci, released in September 2004, tells the story of La Donna with Emilie, one of Da Vinci’s paintings, or “Vinci” as Cuma, the main character likes to call it.

Juliusz Machulski, writer and director takes us through the details and hassle of stealing the Vinci painting from the museum in Poland and replacing it by a fake in an action – comedy setting.

Cuma, who left prison on a sick leave (as strange as that sounds), knocks on the door of his old pal in thievery, Julian, who in turn has a surprise of his own to tell Cuma; he joined the police squad.

After days spent in convincing Julian to join in stealing the most precious painting in Poland, Cuma begins to plan the details of the robbery while Julian, having 2 conflicting jobs to be done at the same time, struggles to find a painter who can make a perfect copy of the Vinci.

After doing the math, 2 copies would make more money, 1 to swap with the original, and the other to be sold to a naïve wealthy man, while the original to be sold and exported overseas.

Running after millions of dollars we find out towards the end of the movie that the painter made more than 2 copies and sold them to different buyers. Cuma and Julian played the police while the painter played everybody else.

Vinci is very similar to The Italian Job; what’s good about it is that events go faster than normal European movies. Unfortunately, the audience was lackluster, as only 20 viewers attended the screening.

A good afternoon movie on a weekday.

Rating: 6/10