Conference Presentations by Joanna Preizner
Kino polskie po 1989 roku, 2007
W polskiej kinetografii po roku 1989 w odniesieniu do stosunków polsko – żydowskich pojawia się n... more W polskiej kinetografii po roku 1989 w odniesieniu do stosunków polsko – żydowskich pojawia się nowy ton. Kino zaczyna opisywać – po raz pierwszy na taką skalę – dystans i strach Polaków spowodowany innością i obcością kultury żydowskiej, polską nieumiejętność i niemożność nawiązania kontaktu z Żydami. Bardzo specyficzne, trudne do ogarnięcia i zrozumienia polsko – żydowskie stosunki, wolna kinematografią odbija w sposób przedziwny – prawie wszystkie polskie filmy, w których pojawiają się choćby marginalne wątki żydowskie, rozgrywają się w czasie II wojny światowej. Może dzieje się tak dlatego, że wielu Polaków wciąż postrzega Żydów niemal wyłącznie przez pryzmat Zagłady. Bardziej jednak prawdopodobnym powodem takiego stanu rzeczy jest fakt, że sytuacja ekstremalna wyostrza zazwyczaj wszystkie fobie, animozje i sympatie, nie pozostawia miejsca na neutralność i zmusza do zajęcia zdecydowanego stanowiska. Ocena, którą polskie kino stawia swojemu społeczeństwu, jest często bardzo gorzka. Wyciągnięcie ręki do Obcego, zobaczenie w nim człowieka, uszanowanie jego godności i integralności, jest dla Polaków czymś ogromnie trudnym. Żydostwo ogromnie często jest reprezentowane przez kobiety żydowskie, a zabiegiem który podkreśla ich obcość i wyjątkowość jest postawienie Żydówki obok Polki, próba skontrastowania obu tych postaci.
In Polish cinematography after 1989, a new tone appears in relation to Polish-Jewish relations. The cinema begins to describe - for the first time on such a scale - the distance and fear of Poles caused by the otherness and strangeness of Jewish culture, Polish inability and inability to establish contact with Jews. Very specific, difficult to grasp and understand Polish-Jewish relations, cinematography reflects in a strange way - almost all Polish films in which there are even marginal Jewish threads take place during World War II. Perhaps this is because many Poles still see Jews almost exclusively through the prism of the Holocaust. However, a more probable reason for this is the fact that an extreme situation usually sharpens all phobias, animosities and sympathies, leaves no room for neutrality and forces poeple to take a firm stand. The assessment that Polish cinema puts on its society is often very bitter. Reaching out to the Stranger, seeing a human in them, respecting their dignity and integrity, is something extremely difficult for Poles. Jewry is very often represented by Jewish women, and a procedure that emphasizes their strangeness and uniqueness is to put a Jewish woman next to a Polish woman, an attempt to contrast the two.
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Kamienie na macewie. Holokaust w polskim kinie, 2012
To książka o polskiej pamięci Zagłady i o tym, jak – obok wielu innych czynników - kształtowało j... more To książka o polskiej pamięci Zagłady i o tym, jak – obok wielu innych czynników - kształtowało ją polskie kino. Zbudowany przez nie obraz Holokaustu konfrontuję z wiedzą historyczną, pracami naukowców związanych z Żydowskim Instytutem Historycznym oraz Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów; ze wspomnieniami Ocalonych, wojennymi relacjami i dziennikami. Odsłaniają rzeczywistość znacznie mniej jednoznaczną niż wizja, którą przez lata budowali polscy twórcy filmowi. Nie zawsze dlatego, że tak właśnie chcieli. Znacznie częściej dlatego, że nie mogli powiedzieć więcej, ponieważ cenzorzy (także ci najstraszniejsi – wewnętrzni) zamykali im usta, a państwowy lub prywatny mecenas nie godził się na sfinansowanie produkcji niewygodnego filmu lub już gotowy (jeśli rzecz działa się w czasach PRL) kierował na półkę. Wykroczenie poza obowiązujące ramy narracji o II wojnie światowej i polsko-żydowskich stosunkach oznaczało także odrzucenie dzieła przez widzów. „Te” filmy nigdy zresztą nie cieszyły się ich przesadnym zainteresowaniem.
W latach 1945-2010 powstało w Polsce 18 pełnometrażowych fabularnych filmów kinowych poświęconych Zagładzie Żydów - zrealizowanych przez polskich reżyserów, z udziałem polskich aktorów i ekip, w polskich zespołach lub firmach producenckich (a nie jedynie przy ich współpracy). Interesowały mnie tylko te produkcje, na których kształt i wymowę mieli wpływ wyłącznie lub przede wszystkim Polacy i które były realizowane głównie z myślą o polskich widzach. Za takie nie sposób uznać – skądinąd znakomitych i wartych osobnej analizy – Gorzkich żniw (Bittere Ernte, 1985) i Europy Europy (Europa Europa, 1990) Agnieszki Holland, Tragarza puchu (Warszawa. Année 5703, 1992) Janusza Kijowskiego oraz Pianisty (The Pianist, 2002) Romana Polańskiego, choć ich autorami są wychowani w polskiej kulturze twórcy.
Kamienie na macewie otwiera opowieść o Ulicy Granicznej (1949) Aleksandra Forda, a zamyka rzecz o Joannie (2010) Feliksa Falka. Nie zdecydowałam się na umieszczenie wśród omawianych pozycji filmów telewizyjnych oraz spektakli Teatru Telewizji. Nie ze względu na ich liczbę – w ciągu minionych dekad powstało ich zaledwie kilka, można je policzyć na palcach jednej ręki. Nie jest jednak możliwe zbadanie ich recepcji (niektóre tytuły poza premierową emisją nie były wyświetlane, w zbiorowej świadomości zaistniały więc w znikomym bądź żadnym zakresie), a przepastne archiwa Telewizji Polskiej są znacznie mniej przyjazne badaczowi niż Archiwum Filmoteki Narodowej w Warszawie. Ma to dla mnie znaczenie o tyle, że pisząc o każdym filmie, staram się go nie tylko zanalizować, ale także opowiedzieć o tym, jak powstawał. Skąd wziął się pomysł, jak wygląda relacja pomiędzy pierwowzorem literackim (jeśli taki był – adaptacjami jest połowa opisanych w Kamieniach na macewie filmów) a zrealizowanym na jego podstawie obrazem. Jakie motywacje kierowały pisarzami i reżyserami, kiedy decydowali się dotknąć niepopularnego, najeżonego rafami tematu. Jak w miarę upływu czasu (czasem to było kilka miesięcy, czasami kilkadziesiąt lat) projekt rozwijał się i zmieniał, i od czego to zależało. Jak wyglądała droga filmu na ekrany (jeśli się na nich znalazł). Jak odebrali go krytycy i widzowie. I wreszcie – na ile pokazane w nim sytuacje są zgodne z prawdą.
This book is about the Polish memory of the Holocaust and how, among many other factors, it was shaped by Polish cinema. I confront the image of the Holocaust created by the cinema with historical knowledge, the work of scientists associated with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Center for Research on the Extermination of Jews, with the memories of the survivors, wartime reports and journals written during and after the war. They reveal a reality that is much less clear-cut than the vision that Polish filmmakers have been building over the years. Not because it was what they wanted. Much more often because they could not say more, because the censors (including the most terrible - internal ones) shut their mouths, and the state or private patron did not agree to finance the production of an “uncomfortable” film or they directed the ready-made film (if it happened in the times of the Polish People's Republic) to shelf. Going beyond the binding framework of the narrative about World War II and Polish-Jewish relations also meant the rejection of the work by viewers. Anyway, "these" films never enjoyed their excessive interest.
In the years 1945-2010, 18 full-length feature films on the Holocaust were made in Poland - made by Polish directors, with the participation of Polish actors and crews, in Polish production companies (and not only with their cooperation). I was interested only in those productions which shape and message were influenced exclusively or mainly by Poles, and which were realized mainly with Polish viewers in mind. It is impossible to consider as such - otherwise excellent and worthy of separate analysis - Bitter Harvest (Bittere Ernte/Gorzkie żniwa, 1985) and Europa Europa (1990) by Agnieszka Holland, Warsaw. Année 5703 (Tragarz puchu, 1992) by Janusz Kijowski and The Pianist (Pianista, 2002) by Roman Polański, although their authors are Poles.
Stones on the Matzevah starts with a chapter about Graniczna Street (Ulica Graniczna, 1949) by Aleksander Ford, and ends with a chapter about Joanna (2010) by Feliks Falk. I have not decided to include television films and Television Theater productions among the works discussed. Not because of their number - only a few have been created in the past decades, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, it is not possible to examine their reception (some titles, apart from the premiere broadcast, were not displayed, so they appeared in the collective consciousness to little or no extent), and the vast archives of television are much less researcher-friendly than the Archives of the National Film Archive in Warsaw. It matters to me because when I write about each film, I try not only to analyze it, but also to tell about how it was made. Where did the idea come from, what is the relation between the literary prototype (if there was one - adaptations are half of the films described in Stones on the Matzevah) and the image based on it. What were the motivations of writers and directors when they decided to touch on an unpopular topic riddled with reefs. How over time (sometimes it was a few months, sometimes several dozen years) the project developed and changed, and what it depended on. What was the way of the film to the screens (if it finally appeared on them). How it was received by critics and viewers. And finally - to what extent are the situations shown in it true.
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Przestrzeń w kulturze współczesnej, 2016
Joanna Preizner analyses "The Aftermath" (Pokłosie) by Władysław Pasikowski considering the narra... more Joanna Preizner analyses "The Aftermath" (Pokłosie) by Władysław Pasikowski considering the narration and action place - contemporary Polish countryside - as the symbol of Poland in general. Motivations, attitudes and ideas of the locals portrayed in the movie are the same as motivations, attitudes and ideas of the most of Polish society. Tragic Polish-Jewish relationships during World War II still impact contemporary attitudes of both nations towards each other. Many Poles still deny to accept dark pages of their history and those who try to remind these shameful events (like pogrom in Jedwabne in 1941 which inspired Władysław Pasikowski) and ask for forgiveness are being punished, in many ways, by their neighbours, friends and even family.
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Przestrzeń w kulturze współczesnej, 2018
Where was The Man? Reflections on Agnieszka Holland's "In the Darkness" (2012)
Agnieszka Holland'... more Where was The Man? Reflections on Agnieszka Holland's "In the Darkness" (2012)
Agnieszka Holland's "In the darkness" is not the first movie in her career that portrays Holocaust and is based on a true story. In 1985 she made "Bittere Ernte" on a compolicated relation between a Jewish woman and a Polish peasant who decided to save her. In 1990 Andrzej Wajda made "Korczak" using Holland's screenplay - an amazing, monochromatic picture portraying last few years Old Doctor's life and its tragic end. Two years later Holland moved by memories of Salomon Perel decided to tell the unbelievable story of a Jewish boy who was considered an Arian and a German, and survived II World War as an adopted son of a German officer and a student of prestigious military school. After that movie Holland declared that she wouldn't go back to Holocaust motifs again. But after reading a story of Krystyna Chigier's family hidden in the sewers of Lvov by Polish thief Leopold Socha, Holland changed her mind. She wanted to remind a complexity of relations between Jews and their Saviours, and look at the both sides of those relations without any patterns that had been used before by the other artists. Filming "in the darkness" was also very tempting as a challenge both for director Holland and camera-woman Jolanta Dylewska.
"In the darkness" is a very objective picture that doesn't glorify anyone and shows all the characters in true light, even if it's inconvenient and doesn't fit the scheme. Jews being victims still remain the people with all their virtues and disadvantages, and the Justified among the Nations are people too, with their weaknesses, doubts, joys and all the good and bad choices they make. Small group of Jews gathered in a terrible, wet and cold place. without light and fresh air, living all the time in fear, learn how to trust and respect each other. Leopold Socha, who represents an anti-semitic stereotype, and money is his first and (at the beginning) the only motovation to help the Jews, learns how to see people in them, and liberates himself from his previous point of view, strongly implemented by Catholic Church.
Agnieszka Holland's film is not just another Holocaust movie - it's also a film essay on how to remain a Human in unhuman times and under unhuman conditions.
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Papers by Joanna Preizner
Okno na przeszłość. Szkice z historii wizualnej. T.4., 2021
The film by Krzysztof Kieślowski, made in 1984, entitled "No End", is one of the
first Polish fil... more The film by Krzysztof Kieślowski, made in 1984, entitled "No End", is one of the
first Polish films about the experience of martial law. Although it was made
with the awareness of censorship, it shows this period in an extremely bold and
true way. Kieślowski does not show iconic images characteristic of the years
1981-1983 – tanks on the streets of Polish cities, soldiers with long weapons
warming themselves up by makeshift stoves, scenes of arrests and deaths of op-
positionists. By telling about a young woman whose husband, before his death
of a heart attack, was a defender of political prisoners, the director, however,
perfectly recreates the atmosphere of martial law: a sense of hopelessness and
entrapment, attempts to maintain dignity and decency at a time when conform-
ist attitudes were rewarded, and finally – everyday fear and humiliation related
to functioning in a totalitarian state. In Kieślowski’s story martial law infects
every area of life, it does not allow anyone to forget about it, even for a moment.
It is characteristic that there are no winners here – both sides of the political,
ethical and ideological dispute feel defeated. “It was a film about the state of
our minds and our hopes rather than the fact that it was cold and someone was
shooting at us. [...] – Kieślowski said many years later. – The film was against
martial law. It showed the defeat of those who led to it and those whom it hurt”
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Autorzy kina polskiego. Tom 2, 2008
Urodził się w Łodzi w 1907 roku jako Mosze Lifszyc. Tego nazwiska nie podał w żadnym oficjalnym ż... more Urodził się w Łodzi w 1907 roku jako Mosze Lifszyc. Tego nazwiska nie podał w żadnym oficjalnym życiorysie, nigdy nie wspominał o swoim żydowskim pochodzeniu, choć stanowiło ono tajemnicę poliszynela. Jego ojciec był majstrem w fabryce włókienniczej – zmarł, kiedy Mosze miał 15 lat. W przedwojennej Polsce dla większości dzieci, nie tylko z żydowskich domów, śmierć ojca oznaczała rezygnację z dalszej nauki. Młody Lifszyc połączył jednak naukę w szkole realnej z pracą w fabryce. Trudno dotrzeć do informacji, kiedy zmienił nazwisko. Nie do końca też wiadomo, jak biedny i wiecznie głodny żydowski chłopak mógł pozwolić sobie na studia wyższe – na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim studiował historię sztuki. Wczesna młodość Forda owiana jest tajemnicami, można się jednak domyślać, że nie była ona łatwa. Ktoś, kto żydostwo miał wypisane na twarzy, pozbawiony pieniędzy, odpowiednich koligacji i znajomości, musiał doznać wielu upokorzeń. Mógł się przed nimi bronić na dwa sposoby – zostać syjonistą albo komunistą. Wybrał komunizm. Życiorys jak w piosence Kaczmarskiego: „Bo widzisz, ja przed wojną byłem komunista. Bo ja chciałem być kimś, bo ja byłem Żyd, a jak Żyd nie był kimś, to ten Żyd był nikt...”.
He was born in Łódź in 1907 as Mosze Lifszyc. He did not give this name in any official biography, he never mentioned his Jewish origin, although it was an open secret. His father was a foreman in a textile factory – he died when Mosze was 15 years old. In pre-war Poland, for most children, not only from Jewish homes, the death of their father meant resignation from further education. Young Lifszyc, however, combined education at the real school with work in the factory. It's hard to find out when he changed his name. It is also not entirely clear how a poor and always hungry Jewish boy could afford higher education - he studied art history at the University of Warsaw. Ford's early youth is shrouded in mystery, but one can guess that it wasn't easy. Someone who had Jewishness written on his face, deprived of money, appropriate affinities and connections, must have suffered many humiliations. He could defend himself against them in two ways - to become a Zionist or a communist. He chose communism. A biography as in Kaczmarski's song: "You see, I was a communist before the war. Because I wanted to be someone, because I was a Jew, and if a Jew wasn't someone, that Jew was nobody...”
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Gefilte film III. Wątki żydowskie w kinie, 2010
W polskim rachunku sumienia obok postawionego przez Jana Błońskiego pytania o współwinę za żydows... more W polskim rachunku sumienia obok postawionego przez Jana Błońskiego pytania o współwinę za żydowską śmierć, powinno się znaleźć miejsce na wstyd za żydowskie wygnanie w 1968. Pytanie o współwinę Zagłady kino zadało już dawno, co jakiś czas podnoszą je kolejni twórcy. Marzec właściwie do dziś nie został przez filmowców w pełni pokazany ani rozliczony. Reżyserzy tworzący w PRL niemal do końca istnienia komunistycznego państwa zmuszeni byli do milczenia – temat dotykał zbyt wielu drażliwych wątków, a traktując go uczciwie nie sposób byłoby je ominąć. Sygnały Marca można jednak odnaleźć w "Indeksie" (1977, prem. 1981) Janusza Kijowskiego, "Przypadku" (1981, prem. 1987) Krzysztofa Kieślowskiego, "Człowieku z żelaza" (1981) Andrzeja Wajdy i "Dziecinnych pytaniach" (1981) Janusza Zaorskiego. Nieprzypadkowo trzy z tych filmów powstały w 1981 roku, w czasie odwilży spowodowanej podpisaniem porozumień sierpniowych, a czwarty po czterech latach „półkowania” wszedł wówczas na polskie ekrany. Nieprzypadkowo też to właśnie w obrazach zrealizowanych w nurcie kina moralnego niepokoju pojawiły się - choć z konieczności bardzo ostrożnie zaznaczone - marcowe wątki. Uważny i myślący widz zdawał sobie jednak sprawę z powodu wyrzucenia ze studiów kolegów Józefa Monety z "Indeksu", czasu i charakteru strajku studenckiego, który chciał zorganizować Maciek Tomczyk w "Człowieku z żelaza", przyczyn wyjazdu do Danii przyjaciela lat dziecinnych Witka z "Przypadku", wreszcie okoliczności złamania przez SB Bogdana z "Dziecinnych pytań". Te sytuacje to jednak tylko skromne migawki, zasadniczymi tematami wymienionych tytułów są zupełnie inne sprawy.
Dopiero koniec PRL-u przyniósł pierwszy „prawdziwy” film o Marcu - "Marcowe migdały" (1989, prem. luty 1990) Radosława Piwowarskiego.
In the Polish examination of conscience, next to the question of complicity in the Jewish death posed by Jan Błoński, there should be room for shame for the Jewish exile in 1968. The question of complicity in the Holocaust has been asked by cinema a long time ago, and is raised from time to time by successive filmmakers. March ‘68 has not yet been fully shown or accounted for by the filmmakers. Directors working in the People's Republic of Poland almost until the end of the existence of the communist state were forced to remain silent - the topic touched on too many sensitive threads, and treating it honestly it would be impossible to avoid them. However, the signals of March ‘68 can be found in "The Index" (1977, premiered in 1981) by Janusz Kijowski, "Blind chance" (1981, premiered in 1987) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, "Man of Iron" (1981) by Andrzej Wajda and "Children's Questions" (1981) Janusz Zaorski. It is no coincidence that three of these films were made in 1981, during the thaw caused by the signing of the August Agreements, and the fourth, after four years of "shelving", was then released on Polish screens. It is also no coincidence that it was in the films made in the cinema of moral anxiety that the themes of March ’68 appeared - albeit carefully marked out of necessity. An attentive and thoughtful viewer, however, was aware of the reason why Józef Moneta's friends from "Index" were expelled from college, the time and nature of the student strike that Maciek Tomczyk wanted to organize in "Man of Iron", the reasons for Witek's from “Blind Chance” childhood friend emigration to Denmark ", and finally the circumstances of breaking Bogdan from "Children's Questions" by secret political police. These situations, however, are only modest snapshots, the main themes of these titles are completely different matters.
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Gefilte film II. Wątki żydowskie w kinie, 2009
"Cud purymowy" (2000) Izabelli Cywińskiej opowiada o dwoistości, o cierpieniu i radości związanyc... more "Cud purymowy" (2000) Izabelli Cywińskiej opowiada o dwoistości, o cierpieniu i radości związanych z byciem polskim Żydem. Opowiada w konwencji nieco baśniowej i komediowej jednocześnie, co nie zmienia faktu, że porusza tematy ważne i trudne. Zrealizowany w ramach doskonałego cyklu telewizyjnego „Święta polskie” krótki, niespełna godzinny obraz mówi o utraconej żydowskiej tożsamości i o jej odzyskiwaniu. Mówi także o czymś, o czym Polacy z reguły nie chcą słuchać: o polskim antysemityzmie, w jego codziennej, „łagodnej” wersji, antysemityzmie tak oczywistym i mocno wpisanym w życie pewnej „polskiej” rodziny, że będącym wręcz niezbywalnym składnikiem jej tożsamości.
„Purim Miracle" (2000) by Izabella Cywińska is about duality, about the suffering and joy of being a Polish Jew. It tells in a fairy-tale and comedy convention at the same time, which does not change the fact that it touches on important and difficult topics. Produced as part of the excellent TV series "Polish Holidays", the short, less than an hour-long film talks about the lost Jewish identity and its recovery. It also talks about something that Poles usually do not want to hear about: about Polish anti-Semitism in its everyday, "mild" version, anti-Semitism so obvious and deeply inscribed in the life of a certain "Polish" family that it is an inalienable component of its identity.
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Gefilte film. Wątki żydowskie w kinie, 2008
Problemy z tożsamością, niemożność funkcjonowania w swoim środowisku ze względu na cechy, których... more Problemy z tożsamością, niemożność funkcjonowania w swoim środowisku ze względu na cechy, których nie sposób się pozbyć – można je jedynie mniej lub bardziej skutecznie ukrywać – to leitmotiv filmów Istvána Szabó. Jego bohaterowie zmagają się z talentem, którego ciężaru nie potrafią unieść i ideologią, której muszą ów talent podporządkować (Mefisto, 1981), pochodzeniem i orientacją seksualną (Pułkownik Redl, 1985), wiedzą, która ich przerasta (Hanussen, 1988). Ale przede wszystkim zmagają się z Historią , głównie tą dwudziestowieczną.
Problems with identity, the inability to function in one's environment due to features that cannot be gotten rid of - they can only be more or less effectively hidden - this is the leitmotiv of István Szabó's films. His characters struggle with a talent whose weight they cannot bear and an ideology to which they must subordinate that talent (Mephisto, 1981), origin and sexual orientation (Colonel Redl, 1985), knowledge that surpasses them (Hanussen, 1988). But most of all they struggle with History, mainly the twentieth century.
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Kino polskie wobec drugiej wojny światowej, 2011
II wojna światowa kojarzy się głównie - i słusznie - z cierpieniem, śmiercią, zniszczeniem i trag... more II wojna światowa kojarzy się głównie - i słusznie - z cierpieniem, śmiercią, zniszczeniem i tragedią. Dla młodych ludzi, którzy wówczas dorastali i którzy zdecydowali się wziąć udział w walce z nazistami i ich kolaborantami, ocena tego czasu nie zawsze jest jednak tak jednoznaczna. Czas niemieckiej okupacji dla wielu z nich był najważniejszym czasem w życiu, który ukształtował ich jako ludzi i w którym zawarli najważniejsze przyjaźnie. Polskie filmy autorów, którzy w czasie wojny mieli mniej więcej po 20 lat, portretują ich pokolenie w czasach pokoju. Zakończenie wojny przynosi jednak rozczarowanie, a dawni żołnierze armii podziemnej tęsknią za czasem, gdy ich życie miało większy niż dziś sens.
World War II is mainly - and rightly so - associated with suffering, death, destruction and tragedy. For young people who grew up then and who decided to take part in the fight against the Nazis and their collaborators, the assessment of that time is not always so clear-cut. The time of the German occupation for many of them was the most important time in their lives, which shaped them as people and in which they made the most important friendships. Polish films by authors who were more or less 20 during the war portray their generation in times of peace. The end of the war, however, brings disappointment, and the former soldiers of the underground army miss a time when their lives made more sense than today.
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Cierpienie i nadzieja w twórczości filmowej Krzysztofa Zanussiego, 2016
"Rok spokojnego słońca" Krzysztofa Zanussiego to kolejna pozycja w filmografii reżysera, w której... more "Rok spokojnego słońca" Krzysztofa Zanussiego to kolejna pozycja w filmografii reżysera, w której ten pochyla się nad wpływem wielkiej Historii na losy jednostek. Tym razem bohaterami swojej opowieści, osadzonej tuż po wojnie na tzw. Ziemiach Odzyskanych (zachodnia część Polski), czyni dwoje ludzi należących do zupełnie odmiennych światów. Nie mówią wspólnym językiem, nie są w stanie werbalnie się porozumieć, a jednak rodzi się między nimi miłość. Realia politycznie nie pozwolą jednak na to, by się spełniła.
Film Zanussiego nie jest jednak wyłącznie opowieścią o Historii i Miłości. To także traktat religijno-filozoficzny.
Krzysztof Zanussi's "The Year of the Quiet Sun" is another position in the director's filmography, in which he examines the influence of great History on the fate of individuals. This time, the characters of his story, set just after the war on the so-called Recovered Territories (western part of Poland), the director makes two people belonging to completely different worlds. They do not speak a common language, they are unable to communicate verbally, and yet love is born between them. However, the political reality will not allow it to come true.
But Zanussi's film is not only a story about History and Love. It is also a religious and philosophical treatise.
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"Kultura współczesna" 2011, nr 2 (68), s. 38-49., 2011
AT THE BOUNDARIES OF REASON.
PIOTR ŁAZARKIEWICZ’S "IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE"
Shot in 1990 "In the ... more AT THE BOUNDARIES OF REASON.
PIOTR ŁAZARKIEWICZ’S "IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE"
Shot in 1990 "In the Middle of Europe", a film by Piotr Łazarkiewicz, is an
adaptation of a short story by Bogdan Madej "Jews, Tartars and Others". The director created a very true and honest image of the town community after world war II. Before the war this community was very well functioning conglomeration of various cultures and religions: Christians, Jews and Muslims. After the war a return to the former state of matters turned out to be impossible. Very few Jewish inhabitants of the town who had managed to survived, shortly after the return to their homes were murdered by their former neighbours, Poles and Tartars. The motive of the crime was mostly unwillingness to give back the Jewish goods and belongings. "In the Middle of Europe" is the only film in Polish cinema which depicts the postwar pogrom of the Jews. Łazarkiewicz forces his viewers to confront the image incommensurate with the vision of the war and postwar times promoted by the cinema during the times of the People’s Republic of Poland. He also poses a question concerning a very specific status of the Jews in Polish culture, the power of anti-Semitic stereotypes and situations in which it has been activated.
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"Pleograf", 2017
"Stan wewnętrzny" Krzysztofa Tchórzewskiego jest drugim polskim filmem fabularnym opowiadającym o... more "Stan wewnętrzny" Krzysztofa Tchórzewskiego jest drugim polskim filmem fabularnym opowiadającym o przebiegu stanu wojennego w Polsce w latach 1981–1983. Zrealizowany jeszcze w trakcie jego trwania (1983), sportretował zarówno stan ówczesnych emocji polskiego społeczeństwa, jak i pokazał – po raz pierwszy w polskim kinie – ikoniczne dla niego obrazy i sytuacje. Na losy i osobiste decyzje czworga
bohaterów Tchórzewskiego, związanych lub sympatyzujących z Solidarnością, nieustannie wpływa sytuacja polityczna, od której są zależni i którą współtworzą. Reżyser świadomie odwołuje się do wielkich dzieł Andrzeja Wajdy, kształtujących świadomość społeczną w drugiej połowie lat siedemdziesiątych i początku lat osiemdziesiątych –
"Człowieka z żelaza" (1976) i "Człowieka z marmuru" (1981). Bohaterowie "Stanu wewnętrznego", rozgrywającego się w Gdańsku, to ludzie z tego samego lub podobnych środowisk jak te, w których żyli bohaterowie niezwykłych filmów Wajdy. Nieprzypadkowo też główną rolę kobiecą w filmie Tchórzewskiego gra Krystyna Janda, stylizowana na Wajdowską Agnieszkę. Tchórzewski, opowiadając o kilkunastu miesiącach
od momentu, gdy podpisano porozumienia sierpniowe, zdaje się opowiadać kolejną część ich historii.
Cenzura nie dopuściła filmu do rozpowszechniania, nie odbyła się nawet jego kolaudacja. Widzowie mogli zobaczyć "Stan wewnętrzny" dopiero w 1989 roku – wszedł na ekrany dzień po tym, jak Tadeusz Mazowiecki został pierwszym niekomunistycznym premierem w powojennej Polsce.
"The Inner State" by Krzysztof Tchórzewski is a second feature film that was made in Poland on martial law (1981–1983). The director made his movie in 1983, when the conflict between communist regime and the anticommunist opposition was still in progress. Tchórzewski’s ambition was to portray the emotional state of Polish society as well as to collect (almost) all of the iconic pictures and situations of the time – for the
first time in the history of Polish cinematography. Protagonists of "The Inner State" are involved with the political situation – all their personal decisions all their thoughts and desires are closely attached to what is happening in Poland. Even if they wanted to stay neutral (which they definitely don’t want to), they are not granted this possibility. They are shaped by the political situation as well as they make it.
Krzysztof Tchórzewski was inspired by two great movies by Andrzej Wajda: "Man of Marble" (1976) and "Man of Iron" (1981). The action of "The Inner State" takes place
in Gdańsk in the same or a very similar society as in Wajda’s movies. Krystyna Janda took the female lead and her heroin resembles Agnieszka she created in both Wajda’s masterpieces. In his movie Tchórzewski seems to tell the story of the people who left shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, after signinig the memorable agreement with communist government. Now we see them year and a half later, forced to struggle for
what they believe in – but with different means.
The viewers weren’t allowed to watch the movie, which was rejected by censorship. The movie was presented to the audience in 1989, a day after Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in post-war Poland.
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Autorzy kina europejskiego Tom. VI Ed. Alicja Helman, Andrzej Pitrus, 2011
"O pragnieniach (nie)spełnionych" to obszerny tekst szczegółowo analizujący trzy fabularne filmy ... more "O pragnieniach (nie)spełnionych" to obszerny tekst szczegółowo analizujący trzy fabularne filmy Stephena Daldry’ego: „Billy’ego Elliota” (2000), „Godziny” (2002) i „Lektora” (2008), i osadzający je w szerokim kontekście biograficznym, historycznym, artystycznym i kulturowym. Joanna Preizner rozkłada filmowe opowieści na poszczególne elementy, pozwalając zobaczyć i zrozumieć ich najgłębsze warstwy.
"On (Un) Fulfilled Desires" is an extensive text that analyzes in detail three feature films by Stephen Daldry: "Billy Elliot" (2000), "The Hours" (2002) and "The Reader" (2008), and places them in a broad biographical context , historical, artistic and cultural. Joanna Preizner breaks down film stories into individual elements, allowing her readers to see and understand their deepest layers.
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Autorzy kina polskiego. Tom III, 2008
Monograficzny tekst poświęcony twórczości Feliksa Falka - od jego pierwszych prób filmowych do zr... more Monograficzny tekst poświęcony twórczości Feliksa Falka - od jego pierwszych prób filmowych do zrealizowanego w 2005 roku "Komornika". Autorka analizuje charakterystyczne dla Falka wątki i motyw, starając się osadzić opisywany film w obyczajowym i politycznym kontekście.
A monographic text devoted to the work of Feliks Falk - from his first film rehearsals to the 2005 "The Debt Collector". The author analyzes the plots and motifs characteristic of Falk's work, trying to place the described film in the social and political context.
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Conference Presentations by Joanna Preizner
In Polish cinematography after 1989, a new tone appears in relation to Polish-Jewish relations. The cinema begins to describe - for the first time on such a scale - the distance and fear of Poles caused by the otherness and strangeness of Jewish culture, Polish inability and inability to establish contact with Jews. Very specific, difficult to grasp and understand Polish-Jewish relations, cinematography reflects in a strange way - almost all Polish films in which there are even marginal Jewish threads take place during World War II. Perhaps this is because many Poles still see Jews almost exclusively through the prism of the Holocaust. However, a more probable reason for this is the fact that an extreme situation usually sharpens all phobias, animosities and sympathies, leaves no room for neutrality and forces poeple to take a firm stand. The assessment that Polish cinema puts on its society is often very bitter. Reaching out to the Stranger, seeing a human in them, respecting their dignity and integrity, is something extremely difficult for Poles. Jewry is very often represented by Jewish women, and a procedure that emphasizes their strangeness and uniqueness is to put a Jewish woman next to a Polish woman, an attempt to contrast the two.
W latach 1945-2010 powstało w Polsce 18 pełnometrażowych fabularnych filmów kinowych poświęconych Zagładzie Żydów - zrealizowanych przez polskich reżyserów, z udziałem polskich aktorów i ekip, w polskich zespołach lub firmach producenckich (a nie jedynie przy ich współpracy). Interesowały mnie tylko te produkcje, na których kształt i wymowę mieli wpływ wyłącznie lub przede wszystkim Polacy i które były realizowane głównie z myślą o polskich widzach. Za takie nie sposób uznać – skądinąd znakomitych i wartych osobnej analizy – Gorzkich żniw (Bittere Ernte, 1985) i Europy Europy (Europa Europa, 1990) Agnieszki Holland, Tragarza puchu (Warszawa. Année 5703, 1992) Janusza Kijowskiego oraz Pianisty (The Pianist, 2002) Romana Polańskiego, choć ich autorami są wychowani w polskiej kulturze twórcy.
Kamienie na macewie otwiera opowieść o Ulicy Granicznej (1949) Aleksandra Forda, a zamyka rzecz o Joannie (2010) Feliksa Falka. Nie zdecydowałam się na umieszczenie wśród omawianych pozycji filmów telewizyjnych oraz spektakli Teatru Telewizji. Nie ze względu na ich liczbę – w ciągu minionych dekad powstało ich zaledwie kilka, można je policzyć na palcach jednej ręki. Nie jest jednak możliwe zbadanie ich recepcji (niektóre tytuły poza premierową emisją nie były wyświetlane, w zbiorowej świadomości zaistniały więc w znikomym bądź żadnym zakresie), a przepastne archiwa Telewizji Polskiej są znacznie mniej przyjazne badaczowi niż Archiwum Filmoteki Narodowej w Warszawie. Ma to dla mnie znaczenie o tyle, że pisząc o każdym filmie, staram się go nie tylko zanalizować, ale także opowiedzieć o tym, jak powstawał. Skąd wziął się pomysł, jak wygląda relacja pomiędzy pierwowzorem literackim (jeśli taki był – adaptacjami jest połowa opisanych w Kamieniach na macewie filmów) a zrealizowanym na jego podstawie obrazem. Jakie motywacje kierowały pisarzami i reżyserami, kiedy decydowali się dotknąć niepopularnego, najeżonego rafami tematu. Jak w miarę upływu czasu (czasem to było kilka miesięcy, czasami kilkadziesiąt lat) projekt rozwijał się i zmieniał, i od czego to zależało. Jak wyglądała droga filmu na ekrany (jeśli się na nich znalazł). Jak odebrali go krytycy i widzowie. I wreszcie – na ile pokazane w nim sytuacje są zgodne z prawdą.
This book is about the Polish memory of the Holocaust and how, among many other factors, it was shaped by Polish cinema. I confront the image of the Holocaust created by the cinema with historical knowledge, the work of scientists associated with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Center for Research on the Extermination of Jews, with the memories of the survivors, wartime reports and journals written during and after the war. They reveal a reality that is much less clear-cut than the vision that Polish filmmakers have been building over the years. Not because it was what they wanted. Much more often because they could not say more, because the censors (including the most terrible - internal ones) shut their mouths, and the state or private patron did not agree to finance the production of an “uncomfortable” film or they directed the ready-made film (if it happened in the times of the Polish People's Republic) to shelf. Going beyond the binding framework of the narrative about World War II and Polish-Jewish relations also meant the rejection of the work by viewers. Anyway, "these" films never enjoyed their excessive interest.
In the years 1945-2010, 18 full-length feature films on the Holocaust were made in Poland - made by Polish directors, with the participation of Polish actors and crews, in Polish production companies (and not only with their cooperation). I was interested only in those productions which shape and message were influenced exclusively or mainly by Poles, and which were realized mainly with Polish viewers in mind. It is impossible to consider as such - otherwise excellent and worthy of separate analysis - Bitter Harvest (Bittere Ernte/Gorzkie żniwa, 1985) and Europa Europa (1990) by Agnieszka Holland, Warsaw. Année 5703 (Tragarz puchu, 1992) by Janusz Kijowski and The Pianist (Pianista, 2002) by Roman Polański, although their authors are Poles.
Stones on the Matzevah starts with a chapter about Graniczna Street (Ulica Graniczna, 1949) by Aleksander Ford, and ends with a chapter about Joanna (2010) by Feliks Falk. I have not decided to include television films and Television Theater productions among the works discussed. Not because of their number - only a few have been created in the past decades, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, it is not possible to examine their reception (some titles, apart from the premiere broadcast, were not displayed, so they appeared in the collective consciousness to little or no extent), and the vast archives of television are much less researcher-friendly than the Archives of the National Film Archive in Warsaw. It matters to me because when I write about each film, I try not only to analyze it, but also to tell about how it was made. Where did the idea come from, what is the relation between the literary prototype (if there was one - adaptations are half of the films described in Stones on the Matzevah) and the image based on it. What were the motivations of writers and directors when they decided to touch on an unpopular topic riddled with reefs. How over time (sometimes it was a few months, sometimes several dozen years) the project developed and changed, and what it depended on. What was the way of the film to the screens (if it finally appeared on them). How it was received by critics and viewers. And finally - to what extent are the situations shown in it true.
Agnieszka Holland's "In the darkness" is not the first movie in her career that portrays Holocaust and is based on a true story. In 1985 she made "Bittere Ernte" on a compolicated relation between a Jewish woman and a Polish peasant who decided to save her. In 1990 Andrzej Wajda made "Korczak" using Holland's screenplay - an amazing, monochromatic picture portraying last few years Old Doctor's life and its tragic end. Two years later Holland moved by memories of Salomon Perel decided to tell the unbelievable story of a Jewish boy who was considered an Arian and a German, and survived II World War as an adopted son of a German officer and a student of prestigious military school. After that movie Holland declared that she wouldn't go back to Holocaust motifs again. But after reading a story of Krystyna Chigier's family hidden in the sewers of Lvov by Polish thief Leopold Socha, Holland changed her mind. She wanted to remind a complexity of relations between Jews and their Saviours, and look at the both sides of those relations without any patterns that had been used before by the other artists. Filming "in the darkness" was also very tempting as a challenge both for director Holland and camera-woman Jolanta Dylewska.
"In the darkness" is a very objective picture that doesn't glorify anyone and shows all the characters in true light, even if it's inconvenient and doesn't fit the scheme. Jews being victims still remain the people with all their virtues and disadvantages, and the Justified among the Nations are people too, with their weaknesses, doubts, joys and all the good and bad choices they make. Small group of Jews gathered in a terrible, wet and cold place. without light and fresh air, living all the time in fear, learn how to trust and respect each other. Leopold Socha, who represents an anti-semitic stereotype, and money is his first and (at the beginning) the only motovation to help the Jews, learns how to see people in them, and liberates himself from his previous point of view, strongly implemented by Catholic Church.
Agnieszka Holland's film is not just another Holocaust movie - it's also a film essay on how to remain a Human in unhuman times and under unhuman conditions.
Papers by Joanna Preizner
first Polish films about the experience of martial law. Although it was made
with the awareness of censorship, it shows this period in an extremely bold and
true way. Kieślowski does not show iconic images characteristic of the years
1981-1983 – tanks on the streets of Polish cities, soldiers with long weapons
warming themselves up by makeshift stoves, scenes of arrests and deaths of op-
positionists. By telling about a young woman whose husband, before his death
of a heart attack, was a defender of political prisoners, the director, however,
perfectly recreates the atmosphere of martial law: a sense of hopelessness and
entrapment, attempts to maintain dignity and decency at a time when conform-
ist attitudes were rewarded, and finally – everyday fear and humiliation related
to functioning in a totalitarian state. In Kieślowski’s story martial law infects
every area of life, it does not allow anyone to forget about it, even for a moment.
It is characteristic that there are no winners here – both sides of the political,
ethical and ideological dispute feel defeated. “It was a film about the state of
our minds and our hopes rather than the fact that it was cold and someone was
shooting at us. [...] – Kieślowski said many years later. – The film was against
martial law. It showed the defeat of those who led to it and those whom it hurt”
He was born in Łódź in 1907 as Mosze Lifszyc. He did not give this name in any official biography, he never mentioned his Jewish origin, although it was an open secret. His father was a foreman in a textile factory – he died when Mosze was 15 years old. In pre-war Poland, for most children, not only from Jewish homes, the death of their father meant resignation from further education. Young Lifszyc, however, combined education at the real school with work in the factory. It's hard to find out when he changed his name. It is also not entirely clear how a poor and always hungry Jewish boy could afford higher education - he studied art history at the University of Warsaw. Ford's early youth is shrouded in mystery, but one can guess that it wasn't easy. Someone who had Jewishness written on his face, deprived of money, appropriate affinities and connections, must have suffered many humiliations. He could defend himself against them in two ways - to become a Zionist or a communist. He chose communism. A biography as in Kaczmarski's song: "You see, I was a communist before the war. Because I wanted to be someone, because I was a Jew, and if a Jew wasn't someone, that Jew was nobody...”
Dopiero koniec PRL-u przyniósł pierwszy „prawdziwy” film o Marcu - "Marcowe migdały" (1989, prem. luty 1990) Radosława Piwowarskiego.
In the Polish examination of conscience, next to the question of complicity in the Jewish death posed by Jan Błoński, there should be room for shame for the Jewish exile in 1968. The question of complicity in the Holocaust has been asked by cinema a long time ago, and is raised from time to time by successive filmmakers. March ‘68 has not yet been fully shown or accounted for by the filmmakers. Directors working in the People's Republic of Poland almost until the end of the existence of the communist state were forced to remain silent - the topic touched on too many sensitive threads, and treating it honestly it would be impossible to avoid them. However, the signals of March ‘68 can be found in "The Index" (1977, premiered in 1981) by Janusz Kijowski, "Blind chance" (1981, premiered in 1987) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, "Man of Iron" (1981) by Andrzej Wajda and "Children's Questions" (1981) Janusz Zaorski. It is no coincidence that three of these films were made in 1981, during the thaw caused by the signing of the August Agreements, and the fourth, after four years of "shelving", was then released on Polish screens. It is also no coincidence that it was in the films made in the cinema of moral anxiety that the themes of March ’68 appeared - albeit carefully marked out of necessity. An attentive and thoughtful viewer, however, was aware of the reason why Józef Moneta's friends from "Index" were expelled from college, the time and nature of the student strike that Maciek Tomczyk wanted to organize in "Man of Iron", the reasons for Witek's from “Blind Chance” childhood friend emigration to Denmark ", and finally the circumstances of breaking Bogdan from "Children's Questions" by secret political police. These situations, however, are only modest snapshots, the main themes of these titles are completely different matters.
„Purim Miracle" (2000) by Izabella Cywińska is about duality, about the suffering and joy of being a Polish Jew. It tells in a fairy-tale and comedy convention at the same time, which does not change the fact that it touches on important and difficult topics. Produced as part of the excellent TV series "Polish Holidays", the short, less than an hour-long film talks about the lost Jewish identity and its recovery. It also talks about something that Poles usually do not want to hear about: about Polish anti-Semitism in its everyday, "mild" version, anti-Semitism so obvious and deeply inscribed in the life of a certain "Polish" family that it is an inalienable component of its identity.
Problems with identity, the inability to function in one's environment due to features that cannot be gotten rid of - they can only be more or less effectively hidden - this is the leitmotiv of István Szabó's films. His characters struggle with a talent whose weight they cannot bear and an ideology to which they must subordinate that talent (Mephisto, 1981), origin and sexual orientation (Colonel Redl, 1985), knowledge that surpasses them (Hanussen, 1988). But most of all they struggle with History, mainly the twentieth century.
World War II is mainly - and rightly so - associated with suffering, death, destruction and tragedy. For young people who grew up then and who decided to take part in the fight against the Nazis and their collaborators, the assessment of that time is not always so clear-cut. The time of the German occupation for many of them was the most important time in their lives, which shaped them as people and in which they made the most important friendships. Polish films by authors who were more or less 20 during the war portray their generation in times of peace. The end of the war, however, brings disappointment, and the former soldiers of the underground army miss a time when their lives made more sense than today.
Film Zanussiego nie jest jednak wyłącznie opowieścią o Historii i Miłości. To także traktat religijno-filozoficzny.
Krzysztof Zanussi's "The Year of the Quiet Sun" is another position in the director's filmography, in which he examines the influence of great History on the fate of individuals. This time, the characters of his story, set just after the war on the so-called Recovered Territories (western part of Poland), the director makes two people belonging to completely different worlds. They do not speak a common language, they are unable to communicate verbally, and yet love is born between them. However, the political reality will not allow it to come true.
But Zanussi's film is not only a story about History and Love. It is also a religious and philosophical treatise.
PIOTR ŁAZARKIEWICZ’S "IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE"
Shot in 1990 "In the Middle of Europe", a film by Piotr Łazarkiewicz, is an
adaptation of a short story by Bogdan Madej "Jews, Tartars and Others". The director created a very true and honest image of the town community after world war II. Before the war this community was very well functioning conglomeration of various cultures and religions: Christians, Jews and Muslims. After the war a return to the former state of matters turned out to be impossible. Very few Jewish inhabitants of the town who had managed to survived, shortly after the return to their homes were murdered by their former neighbours, Poles and Tartars. The motive of the crime was mostly unwillingness to give back the Jewish goods and belongings. "In the Middle of Europe" is the only film in Polish cinema which depicts the postwar pogrom of the Jews. Łazarkiewicz forces his viewers to confront the image incommensurate with the vision of the war and postwar times promoted by the cinema during the times of the People’s Republic of Poland. He also poses a question concerning a very specific status of the Jews in Polish culture, the power of anti-Semitic stereotypes and situations in which it has been activated.
bohaterów Tchórzewskiego, związanych lub sympatyzujących z Solidarnością, nieustannie wpływa sytuacja polityczna, od której są zależni i którą współtworzą. Reżyser świadomie odwołuje się do wielkich dzieł Andrzeja Wajdy, kształtujących świadomość społeczną w drugiej połowie lat siedemdziesiątych i początku lat osiemdziesiątych –
"Człowieka z żelaza" (1976) i "Człowieka z marmuru" (1981). Bohaterowie "Stanu wewnętrznego", rozgrywającego się w Gdańsku, to ludzie z tego samego lub podobnych środowisk jak te, w których żyli bohaterowie niezwykłych filmów Wajdy. Nieprzypadkowo też główną rolę kobiecą w filmie Tchórzewskiego gra Krystyna Janda, stylizowana na Wajdowską Agnieszkę. Tchórzewski, opowiadając o kilkunastu miesiącach
od momentu, gdy podpisano porozumienia sierpniowe, zdaje się opowiadać kolejną część ich historii.
Cenzura nie dopuściła filmu do rozpowszechniania, nie odbyła się nawet jego kolaudacja. Widzowie mogli zobaczyć "Stan wewnętrzny" dopiero w 1989 roku – wszedł na ekrany dzień po tym, jak Tadeusz Mazowiecki został pierwszym niekomunistycznym premierem w powojennej Polsce.
"The Inner State" by Krzysztof Tchórzewski is a second feature film that was made in Poland on martial law (1981–1983). The director made his movie in 1983, when the conflict between communist regime and the anticommunist opposition was still in progress. Tchórzewski’s ambition was to portray the emotional state of Polish society as well as to collect (almost) all of the iconic pictures and situations of the time – for the
first time in the history of Polish cinematography. Protagonists of "The Inner State" are involved with the political situation – all their personal decisions all their thoughts and desires are closely attached to what is happening in Poland. Even if they wanted to stay neutral (which they definitely don’t want to), they are not granted this possibility. They are shaped by the political situation as well as they make it.
Krzysztof Tchórzewski was inspired by two great movies by Andrzej Wajda: "Man of Marble" (1976) and "Man of Iron" (1981). The action of "The Inner State" takes place
in Gdańsk in the same or a very similar society as in Wajda’s movies. Krystyna Janda took the female lead and her heroin resembles Agnieszka she created in both Wajda’s masterpieces. In his movie Tchórzewski seems to tell the story of the people who left shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, after signinig the memorable agreement with communist government. Now we see them year and a half later, forced to struggle for
what they believe in – but with different means.
The viewers weren’t allowed to watch the movie, which was rejected by censorship. The movie was presented to the audience in 1989, a day after Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in post-war Poland.
"On (Un) Fulfilled Desires" is an extensive text that analyzes in detail three feature films by Stephen Daldry: "Billy Elliot" (2000), "The Hours" (2002) and "The Reader" (2008), and places them in a broad biographical context , historical, artistic and cultural. Joanna Preizner breaks down film stories into individual elements, allowing her readers to see and understand their deepest layers.
A monographic text devoted to the work of Feliks Falk - from his first film rehearsals to the 2005 "The Debt Collector". The author analyzes the plots and motifs characteristic of Falk's work, trying to place the described film in the social and political context.
In Polish cinematography after 1989, a new tone appears in relation to Polish-Jewish relations. The cinema begins to describe - for the first time on such a scale - the distance and fear of Poles caused by the otherness and strangeness of Jewish culture, Polish inability and inability to establish contact with Jews. Very specific, difficult to grasp and understand Polish-Jewish relations, cinematography reflects in a strange way - almost all Polish films in which there are even marginal Jewish threads take place during World War II. Perhaps this is because many Poles still see Jews almost exclusively through the prism of the Holocaust. However, a more probable reason for this is the fact that an extreme situation usually sharpens all phobias, animosities and sympathies, leaves no room for neutrality and forces poeple to take a firm stand. The assessment that Polish cinema puts on its society is often very bitter. Reaching out to the Stranger, seeing a human in them, respecting their dignity and integrity, is something extremely difficult for Poles. Jewry is very often represented by Jewish women, and a procedure that emphasizes their strangeness and uniqueness is to put a Jewish woman next to a Polish woman, an attempt to contrast the two.
W latach 1945-2010 powstało w Polsce 18 pełnometrażowych fabularnych filmów kinowych poświęconych Zagładzie Żydów - zrealizowanych przez polskich reżyserów, z udziałem polskich aktorów i ekip, w polskich zespołach lub firmach producenckich (a nie jedynie przy ich współpracy). Interesowały mnie tylko te produkcje, na których kształt i wymowę mieli wpływ wyłącznie lub przede wszystkim Polacy i które były realizowane głównie z myślą o polskich widzach. Za takie nie sposób uznać – skądinąd znakomitych i wartych osobnej analizy – Gorzkich żniw (Bittere Ernte, 1985) i Europy Europy (Europa Europa, 1990) Agnieszki Holland, Tragarza puchu (Warszawa. Année 5703, 1992) Janusza Kijowskiego oraz Pianisty (The Pianist, 2002) Romana Polańskiego, choć ich autorami są wychowani w polskiej kulturze twórcy.
Kamienie na macewie otwiera opowieść o Ulicy Granicznej (1949) Aleksandra Forda, a zamyka rzecz o Joannie (2010) Feliksa Falka. Nie zdecydowałam się na umieszczenie wśród omawianych pozycji filmów telewizyjnych oraz spektakli Teatru Telewizji. Nie ze względu na ich liczbę – w ciągu minionych dekad powstało ich zaledwie kilka, można je policzyć na palcach jednej ręki. Nie jest jednak możliwe zbadanie ich recepcji (niektóre tytuły poza premierową emisją nie były wyświetlane, w zbiorowej świadomości zaistniały więc w znikomym bądź żadnym zakresie), a przepastne archiwa Telewizji Polskiej są znacznie mniej przyjazne badaczowi niż Archiwum Filmoteki Narodowej w Warszawie. Ma to dla mnie znaczenie o tyle, że pisząc o każdym filmie, staram się go nie tylko zanalizować, ale także opowiedzieć o tym, jak powstawał. Skąd wziął się pomysł, jak wygląda relacja pomiędzy pierwowzorem literackim (jeśli taki był – adaptacjami jest połowa opisanych w Kamieniach na macewie filmów) a zrealizowanym na jego podstawie obrazem. Jakie motywacje kierowały pisarzami i reżyserami, kiedy decydowali się dotknąć niepopularnego, najeżonego rafami tematu. Jak w miarę upływu czasu (czasem to było kilka miesięcy, czasami kilkadziesiąt lat) projekt rozwijał się i zmieniał, i od czego to zależało. Jak wyglądała droga filmu na ekrany (jeśli się na nich znalazł). Jak odebrali go krytycy i widzowie. I wreszcie – na ile pokazane w nim sytuacje są zgodne z prawdą.
This book is about the Polish memory of the Holocaust and how, among many other factors, it was shaped by Polish cinema. I confront the image of the Holocaust created by the cinema with historical knowledge, the work of scientists associated with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Center for Research on the Extermination of Jews, with the memories of the survivors, wartime reports and journals written during and after the war. They reveal a reality that is much less clear-cut than the vision that Polish filmmakers have been building over the years. Not because it was what they wanted. Much more often because they could not say more, because the censors (including the most terrible - internal ones) shut their mouths, and the state or private patron did not agree to finance the production of an “uncomfortable” film or they directed the ready-made film (if it happened in the times of the Polish People's Republic) to shelf. Going beyond the binding framework of the narrative about World War II and Polish-Jewish relations also meant the rejection of the work by viewers. Anyway, "these" films never enjoyed their excessive interest.
In the years 1945-2010, 18 full-length feature films on the Holocaust were made in Poland - made by Polish directors, with the participation of Polish actors and crews, in Polish production companies (and not only with their cooperation). I was interested only in those productions which shape and message were influenced exclusively or mainly by Poles, and which were realized mainly with Polish viewers in mind. It is impossible to consider as such - otherwise excellent and worthy of separate analysis - Bitter Harvest (Bittere Ernte/Gorzkie żniwa, 1985) and Europa Europa (1990) by Agnieszka Holland, Warsaw. Année 5703 (Tragarz puchu, 1992) by Janusz Kijowski and The Pianist (Pianista, 2002) by Roman Polański, although their authors are Poles.
Stones on the Matzevah starts with a chapter about Graniczna Street (Ulica Graniczna, 1949) by Aleksander Ford, and ends with a chapter about Joanna (2010) by Feliks Falk. I have not decided to include television films and Television Theater productions among the works discussed. Not because of their number - only a few have been created in the past decades, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, it is not possible to examine their reception (some titles, apart from the premiere broadcast, were not displayed, so they appeared in the collective consciousness to little or no extent), and the vast archives of television are much less researcher-friendly than the Archives of the National Film Archive in Warsaw. It matters to me because when I write about each film, I try not only to analyze it, but also to tell about how it was made. Where did the idea come from, what is the relation between the literary prototype (if there was one - adaptations are half of the films described in Stones on the Matzevah) and the image based on it. What were the motivations of writers and directors when they decided to touch on an unpopular topic riddled with reefs. How over time (sometimes it was a few months, sometimes several dozen years) the project developed and changed, and what it depended on. What was the way of the film to the screens (if it finally appeared on them). How it was received by critics and viewers. And finally - to what extent are the situations shown in it true.
Agnieszka Holland's "In the darkness" is not the first movie in her career that portrays Holocaust and is based on a true story. In 1985 she made "Bittere Ernte" on a compolicated relation between a Jewish woman and a Polish peasant who decided to save her. In 1990 Andrzej Wajda made "Korczak" using Holland's screenplay - an amazing, monochromatic picture portraying last few years Old Doctor's life and its tragic end. Two years later Holland moved by memories of Salomon Perel decided to tell the unbelievable story of a Jewish boy who was considered an Arian and a German, and survived II World War as an adopted son of a German officer and a student of prestigious military school. After that movie Holland declared that she wouldn't go back to Holocaust motifs again. But after reading a story of Krystyna Chigier's family hidden in the sewers of Lvov by Polish thief Leopold Socha, Holland changed her mind. She wanted to remind a complexity of relations between Jews and their Saviours, and look at the both sides of those relations without any patterns that had been used before by the other artists. Filming "in the darkness" was also very tempting as a challenge both for director Holland and camera-woman Jolanta Dylewska.
"In the darkness" is a very objective picture that doesn't glorify anyone and shows all the characters in true light, even if it's inconvenient and doesn't fit the scheme. Jews being victims still remain the people with all their virtues and disadvantages, and the Justified among the Nations are people too, with their weaknesses, doubts, joys and all the good and bad choices they make. Small group of Jews gathered in a terrible, wet and cold place. without light and fresh air, living all the time in fear, learn how to trust and respect each other. Leopold Socha, who represents an anti-semitic stereotype, and money is his first and (at the beginning) the only motovation to help the Jews, learns how to see people in them, and liberates himself from his previous point of view, strongly implemented by Catholic Church.
Agnieszka Holland's film is not just another Holocaust movie - it's also a film essay on how to remain a Human in unhuman times and under unhuman conditions.
first Polish films about the experience of martial law. Although it was made
with the awareness of censorship, it shows this period in an extremely bold and
true way. Kieślowski does not show iconic images characteristic of the years
1981-1983 – tanks on the streets of Polish cities, soldiers with long weapons
warming themselves up by makeshift stoves, scenes of arrests and deaths of op-
positionists. By telling about a young woman whose husband, before his death
of a heart attack, was a defender of political prisoners, the director, however,
perfectly recreates the atmosphere of martial law: a sense of hopelessness and
entrapment, attempts to maintain dignity and decency at a time when conform-
ist attitudes were rewarded, and finally – everyday fear and humiliation related
to functioning in a totalitarian state. In Kieślowski’s story martial law infects
every area of life, it does not allow anyone to forget about it, even for a moment.
It is characteristic that there are no winners here – both sides of the political,
ethical and ideological dispute feel defeated. “It was a film about the state of
our minds and our hopes rather than the fact that it was cold and someone was
shooting at us. [...] – Kieślowski said many years later. – The film was against
martial law. It showed the defeat of those who led to it and those whom it hurt”
He was born in Łódź in 1907 as Mosze Lifszyc. He did not give this name in any official biography, he never mentioned his Jewish origin, although it was an open secret. His father was a foreman in a textile factory – he died when Mosze was 15 years old. In pre-war Poland, for most children, not only from Jewish homes, the death of their father meant resignation from further education. Young Lifszyc, however, combined education at the real school with work in the factory. It's hard to find out when he changed his name. It is also not entirely clear how a poor and always hungry Jewish boy could afford higher education - he studied art history at the University of Warsaw. Ford's early youth is shrouded in mystery, but one can guess that it wasn't easy. Someone who had Jewishness written on his face, deprived of money, appropriate affinities and connections, must have suffered many humiliations. He could defend himself against them in two ways - to become a Zionist or a communist. He chose communism. A biography as in Kaczmarski's song: "You see, I was a communist before the war. Because I wanted to be someone, because I was a Jew, and if a Jew wasn't someone, that Jew was nobody...”
Dopiero koniec PRL-u przyniósł pierwszy „prawdziwy” film o Marcu - "Marcowe migdały" (1989, prem. luty 1990) Radosława Piwowarskiego.
In the Polish examination of conscience, next to the question of complicity in the Jewish death posed by Jan Błoński, there should be room for shame for the Jewish exile in 1968. The question of complicity in the Holocaust has been asked by cinema a long time ago, and is raised from time to time by successive filmmakers. March ‘68 has not yet been fully shown or accounted for by the filmmakers. Directors working in the People's Republic of Poland almost until the end of the existence of the communist state were forced to remain silent - the topic touched on too many sensitive threads, and treating it honestly it would be impossible to avoid them. However, the signals of March ‘68 can be found in "The Index" (1977, premiered in 1981) by Janusz Kijowski, "Blind chance" (1981, premiered in 1987) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, "Man of Iron" (1981) by Andrzej Wajda and "Children's Questions" (1981) Janusz Zaorski. It is no coincidence that three of these films were made in 1981, during the thaw caused by the signing of the August Agreements, and the fourth, after four years of "shelving", was then released on Polish screens. It is also no coincidence that it was in the films made in the cinema of moral anxiety that the themes of March ’68 appeared - albeit carefully marked out of necessity. An attentive and thoughtful viewer, however, was aware of the reason why Józef Moneta's friends from "Index" were expelled from college, the time and nature of the student strike that Maciek Tomczyk wanted to organize in "Man of Iron", the reasons for Witek's from “Blind Chance” childhood friend emigration to Denmark ", and finally the circumstances of breaking Bogdan from "Children's Questions" by secret political police. These situations, however, are only modest snapshots, the main themes of these titles are completely different matters.
„Purim Miracle" (2000) by Izabella Cywińska is about duality, about the suffering and joy of being a Polish Jew. It tells in a fairy-tale and comedy convention at the same time, which does not change the fact that it touches on important and difficult topics. Produced as part of the excellent TV series "Polish Holidays", the short, less than an hour-long film talks about the lost Jewish identity and its recovery. It also talks about something that Poles usually do not want to hear about: about Polish anti-Semitism in its everyday, "mild" version, anti-Semitism so obvious and deeply inscribed in the life of a certain "Polish" family that it is an inalienable component of its identity.
Problems with identity, the inability to function in one's environment due to features that cannot be gotten rid of - they can only be more or less effectively hidden - this is the leitmotiv of István Szabó's films. His characters struggle with a talent whose weight they cannot bear and an ideology to which they must subordinate that talent (Mephisto, 1981), origin and sexual orientation (Colonel Redl, 1985), knowledge that surpasses them (Hanussen, 1988). But most of all they struggle with History, mainly the twentieth century.
World War II is mainly - and rightly so - associated with suffering, death, destruction and tragedy. For young people who grew up then and who decided to take part in the fight against the Nazis and their collaborators, the assessment of that time is not always so clear-cut. The time of the German occupation for many of them was the most important time in their lives, which shaped them as people and in which they made the most important friendships. Polish films by authors who were more or less 20 during the war portray their generation in times of peace. The end of the war, however, brings disappointment, and the former soldiers of the underground army miss a time when their lives made more sense than today.
Film Zanussiego nie jest jednak wyłącznie opowieścią o Historii i Miłości. To także traktat religijno-filozoficzny.
Krzysztof Zanussi's "The Year of the Quiet Sun" is another position in the director's filmography, in which he examines the influence of great History on the fate of individuals. This time, the characters of his story, set just after the war on the so-called Recovered Territories (western part of Poland), the director makes two people belonging to completely different worlds. They do not speak a common language, they are unable to communicate verbally, and yet love is born between them. However, the political reality will not allow it to come true.
But Zanussi's film is not only a story about History and Love. It is also a religious and philosophical treatise.
PIOTR ŁAZARKIEWICZ’S "IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE"
Shot in 1990 "In the Middle of Europe", a film by Piotr Łazarkiewicz, is an
adaptation of a short story by Bogdan Madej "Jews, Tartars and Others". The director created a very true and honest image of the town community after world war II. Before the war this community was very well functioning conglomeration of various cultures and religions: Christians, Jews and Muslims. After the war a return to the former state of matters turned out to be impossible. Very few Jewish inhabitants of the town who had managed to survived, shortly after the return to their homes were murdered by their former neighbours, Poles and Tartars. The motive of the crime was mostly unwillingness to give back the Jewish goods and belongings. "In the Middle of Europe" is the only film in Polish cinema which depicts the postwar pogrom of the Jews. Łazarkiewicz forces his viewers to confront the image incommensurate with the vision of the war and postwar times promoted by the cinema during the times of the People’s Republic of Poland. He also poses a question concerning a very specific status of the Jews in Polish culture, the power of anti-Semitic stereotypes and situations in which it has been activated.
bohaterów Tchórzewskiego, związanych lub sympatyzujących z Solidarnością, nieustannie wpływa sytuacja polityczna, od której są zależni i którą współtworzą. Reżyser świadomie odwołuje się do wielkich dzieł Andrzeja Wajdy, kształtujących świadomość społeczną w drugiej połowie lat siedemdziesiątych i początku lat osiemdziesiątych –
"Człowieka z żelaza" (1976) i "Człowieka z marmuru" (1981). Bohaterowie "Stanu wewnętrznego", rozgrywającego się w Gdańsku, to ludzie z tego samego lub podobnych środowisk jak te, w których żyli bohaterowie niezwykłych filmów Wajdy. Nieprzypadkowo też główną rolę kobiecą w filmie Tchórzewskiego gra Krystyna Janda, stylizowana na Wajdowską Agnieszkę. Tchórzewski, opowiadając o kilkunastu miesiącach
od momentu, gdy podpisano porozumienia sierpniowe, zdaje się opowiadać kolejną część ich historii.
Cenzura nie dopuściła filmu do rozpowszechniania, nie odbyła się nawet jego kolaudacja. Widzowie mogli zobaczyć "Stan wewnętrzny" dopiero w 1989 roku – wszedł na ekrany dzień po tym, jak Tadeusz Mazowiecki został pierwszym niekomunistycznym premierem w powojennej Polsce.
"The Inner State" by Krzysztof Tchórzewski is a second feature film that was made in Poland on martial law (1981–1983). The director made his movie in 1983, when the conflict between communist regime and the anticommunist opposition was still in progress. Tchórzewski’s ambition was to portray the emotional state of Polish society as well as to collect (almost) all of the iconic pictures and situations of the time – for the
first time in the history of Polish cinematography. Protagonists of "The Inner State" are involved with the political situation – all their personal decisions all their thoughts and desires are closely attached to what is happening in Poland. Even if they wanted to stay neutral (which they definitely don’t want to), they are not granted this possibility. They are shaped by the political situation as well as they make it.
Krzysztof Tchórzewski was inspired by two great movies by Andrzej Wajda: "Man of Marble" (1976) and "Man of Iron" (1981). The action of "The Inner State" takes place
in Gdańsk in the same or a very similar society as in Wajda’s movies. Krystyna Janda took the female lead and her heroin resembles Agnieszka she created in both Wajda’s masterpieces. In his movie Tchórzewski seems to tell the story of the people who left shipyard in Gdańsk in August 1980, after signinig the memorable agreement with communist government. Now we see them year and a half later, forced to struggle for
what they believe in – but with different means.
The viewers weren’t allowed to watch the movie, which was rejected by censorship. The movie was presented to the audience in 1989, a day after Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in post-war Poland.
"On (Un) Fulfilled Desires" is an extensive text that analyzes in detail three feature films by Stephen Daldry: "Billy Elliot" (2000), "The Hours" (2002) and "The Reader" (2008), and places them in a broad biographical context , historical, artistic and cultural. Joanna Preizner breaks down film stories into individual elements, allowing her readers to see and understand their deepest layers.
A monographic text devoted to the work of Feliks Falk - from his first film rehearsals to the 2005 "The Debt Collector". The author analyzes the plots and motifs characteristic of Falk's work, trying to place the described film in the social and political context.
Leszek Wosiewicz's film “Christmas Eve '81” (1982) is almost a documentary record of the moods prevailing at that time. A black-and-white, raw, ascetic film that does not show images characteristic of that historical moment - tanks on snow-covered streets, soldiers with sharp weapons warming themselves by metal baskets with burning coke, the "Moscow" cinema with a banner of “Apocalypse now” (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola - but it records on film tape something much more important and more representative of the first days and weeks of the martial law in Poland. The movie records emotions and reflections - and these are the emotions and reflections of women who spend Christmas Eve day and evening alone because their man - husband, son, grandson - has been arrested.