Still from "Doctors" by Tomasz Wolski
The film is set in Krakow's Specialist Hospital, and the protagonists are doctors of several clinical departments. In the history of Polish documentaries, there have been many successful films dedicated to the work of medical personnel or the observation of communities within hospitals. The famed Szpital (1976) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, which won a number of awards in 1977, was a captivating relation of 24-hour emergency service of the physicians at a Warsaw hospital. Kieslowski’s camera followed the hospital life of the doctors and patients, their mutual relations, captured moments filled with hope and doubts alike. Chemia (2009) by Paweł Łoziński (Prix Europa 2009) is a documentary about people stricken with cancer at the Cancer Centre of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Institute in Warsaw, in which the director observed the patients undergoing chemotherapy. It is a kind of "portrait of a family within," warm, subtle, showing how much humanity there is in people. The director does not try to dazzle us with physiology, does not show the hospital equipment, does not focus on the medical personnel, all he cares about are the patients and their emotions, the good emotions.
Tomasz Wolski's own Klinika 2006 remains within the bounds of a similar mood with a thorough observation of patients and doctors of the Department of Internal Diseases of the Medical College within the Jagiellonian University. The documentarian’s camera gently and warmly observes the life of the hospital department. It captures the reality the way it is. The observation of bonds of sympathy between patients and doctors or among the patients themselves is fascinating and has been recognised at a number of festivals and award ceremonies.
The director's latest film, Lekarze / Doctors (despite touching upon the same hospital reality as the works of Kieślowski, Łoziński or even his own previous Klinika) is certainly different. There are no patients there, they exist outside the frame. Even if they show up within the camera’s view, the directors blurs out their characters and presents only fragments of their body undergoing surgery or treatment, focusing instead on the hospital personnel.
Wolski's documentary begins with a long camera shot along the empty hospital halls. Suddenly footsteps can be heard, we can see only a pair of legs, they’re in a hurry. Then, a doctor's silhouette appears, walking along the halls, the camera follows him. We come across a morning departmental committee. The professor asks the subordinates about a report, talks about several important announcements, occasionally throwing in a funny comment about them. Recommending an article dedicated to psychiatry, published in the latest issue of "Therapy," he adds: "I suggest you take a look, because we’re all going there".
Then the camera moves to the doctors’ wardrobe, where even changing clothes is accompanied by "hospital" talk. One of the professors recalls returning home on the day after Christmas. He is stopped by a policeman. "Breathe here," says the officer, holding out a breathalyser. "I can’t, I’m a doctor, a responsible doctor, I work at the Tuberculosis Institute," answers the professor. "Move along," says the policeman. Wolski's film sparkles with humor, though its dominating tone is of course serious.
Members of the jury of the 51st Krakow Film Festival, which awarded Lekarze, justified their verdict as follows:
This film takes the viewer into an important public institution and, with unique cinematography, and sometimes funny dialogues, tells a story from the borderline of life and death.
A students’ jury spoke of the film in a similar manner, which awarded the documentary with its own prize for "the surgically precise style and successful procedure on the open heart of the characters".
Wolski's documentary is filled with medical consultations, talks with patients, analysis of examination results, qualifying for surgeries, conducting procedures. "You can’t be afraid of a surgery, I mean you can, because no one will forbid you to," a doctor tells a patient. And then adds: "But surgeons are the ones most afraid of surgeries." The doctors of the Kraków’s Specialist Hospital are excellent professionals, but they are also really humble. One particular confession is: 'One hundred percent,' if some doctor says that, they’re either lying or know nothing about medicine, only God can be one hundred percent sure". Or: a patient, walking out after an examination, says while leaving: "Life is beautiful and I want to live, but not even the best medicine will change what God has in store for me." "So we’ll make God’s job easier or harder," answers the doctor. "God works through good doctors," the patient unexpectedly concludes.
The director discreetly watches the hospital life, without interfering with the observed reality. His camera does not disturb the doctors, they are at ease, but also concentrated, seemingly not noticing the camera. The values of these ascetic, striking pictures were perceived by the jury of the 19th Camerimage Plus International Festival of Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz (2011), awarding Lekarze with a Golden Frog.
The Golden Frog is very prestigious, and it’s special to me, because I’ve received it at the only cinematographers’ festival in the world. I didn’t even finish a film school as such! I applied seven times but I usually didn’t make it through the first stage of recruitment. My greatest education included facing the challenge of making films on my own. I took the camera and just started rolling. I don’t have a complex because of not finishing a film school. I’ve learnt what I know faster than I would’ve during five years of school studies, said Tomasz Wolski after receiving the prestigious award of the Festival in Bydgoszcz (www.mmgrudziadz.pl).
Tomasz Wolski graduated from the High School in Grudziądz. He studied journalism at the Jagiellonian University and a documentary course at the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film (2002), under the guidance of Marcel Łoziński, Jacek Bławut, Jacek Petrycki and Katarzyna Maciejko-Kowalczyk. Because Wolski is not only the writer and director of his films, he is often also the cinematographer and editor, as well as the occasional sound recordist. He likes to work alone or with a small, limited to the necessary minimum, crew.
- Lekarze / Doctors Poland, 2011. Written, directed, and edited by: Tomasz Wolski, sound by: Bartosz Mleczko, music by: Grzegorz Rozwadowski, executive producer: Anna Gawlita, producers: Anna Gawlita, Tomasz Wolski. Production: Kijora. Colour, 80 min.
Awards:
- Award of the President of Polish Filmmakers Association for editing at the 51st Kraków Film Festival in 2011;
- Jury award at the international documentary competition at the 51st Kraków Film Festival in 2011;
- Student Jury Award at the international documentary competition at the 51st Krakow Film Festival in 2011;
- Honorary mention at the 15th International Film Festival Off Cinema in Poznań, 2011;
- Golden Frog Grand Prix at the competition of feature-length documentary films at the 19th International Festival of the Art of Cinematography Plus Camerimage in Bydgoszcz, 2011.
Author: Jerzy Armata, December 2011