Operation Hyacinth movie review (2021)
Officer Robert (Tomasz Ziętek) is a rising star in his precinct, still a bit green but coming from a respected family line of police officers, including his father, Edward (Marek Kalita). Robert is engaged to a fellow officer, Halinka (Adrianna Chlebicka), who oversees the evidence lockers. He and his partners are part of Operation Hyacinth, raiding public restrooms and clubs to round up gay men. It’s evident that no one involved in these maneuvers has much—or any—respect for homosexuals, whom they call “hyacinths” in the same way “pansy” became the flower of insult used here in America. These closeted men are then ruthlessly interrogated in claustrophobic scenes where they beg not to be exposed.
When a rash of murders occur with the same type of fatal wounds, the police think they have a serial killer on the loose. The higher-ups demand that the case be solved as soon as possible. When a suspect Robert brought in has a confession beaten out of him before subsequently killing himself in a cell, the police close the case. Robert is in line for a promotion his father is more than eager to help push through, but something doesn’t sit right with him. The resolution is too neat. Plus, there’s no evidence, incriminating or otherwise. “We got a confession,” says one officer, but considering how badly the suspect was beaten, it cannot be a reliable one.
With a little bit of leeway, Robert is allowed to go undercover to satisfy his own suspicions. Posing as a guy on the prowl, he encounters Arek (Hubert Milkowski), a confident and bold young man who complains about the Hyacinth raids and has a preternatural knack for avoiding capture. Considering that he knew some of the victims, Robert decides to use him as an informant. Arek turns out to be a good choice for information, but he’s a flirtatious sort who sees his new friend as rather repressed. “You can’t be afraid of everything,” he tells Robert, “especially not freedom.” To loosen him up, or perhaps just to test the waters of availability, Arek kisses an unprepared Robert. It’s barely a peck, but it has larger repercussions.
