Polish critics sometimes find contemporary Polish cinema guilty of indifference to the social challenges which the transformation of the political and economic system has opened - a charge which is misplaced, given that even some of the comedies - such as Juliusz Machulski's Pieniądze to nie wszystko / Money Is Not Everything - are deeply rooted in the here and now and address major social issues. Michał Rosa's Rysa, one of the most mature Polish films of the last ten years and winner of the screenplay prize at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, belies that charge most strongly by not only tackling the urgent issue of settling of accounts with the communist past, but also lending it a universal, ethical dimension. Rysa / Scratch can be viewed as a contribution both to the debate on the need of screening and removing the former functionaries of the communist regime from public posts and on emotions and interpersonal relations.
What inspired Rosa was a true story of records found in Stasi files and describing one of the security forces operations whereby a Stasi officer married a daughter of an opposition politician, so that he could invigilate his father-in-law. The operation proved a dubious success, for the politician died shortly after the wedding and the agent gave up working for Stasi. Such practices, however, are known not to have been isolated or restricted to the East German secret service. There is, for instance, the case of Polish historian Paweł Jasienica whose wife turned out to be working for the Polish Secret Service (SB) and informing on him.
What makes Rysa a mature work is more than anything the unimposing nature of the theme of screening. Indeed, Rosa's film is less about the screening of people's pasts than about a married couple's crisis of trust or even crisis of emotions which can destroy their relationship the way a betrayal, an intentional wrongdoing or a disclosure of some truth could.
Here is a former security agent sharing sensational news on a local TV station: that in the 1970s a distinguished and respected mathematics professor was told by the Security Service to marry into an oppositionist's family - which he duly did. The news comes as a shock to the mathematician's wife, to whom her marriage of more than thirty years has always seemed founded on affection and mutual trust. How is she to respond to such a gruesome revelation? She becomes psychotic and moves out of the house, unable to live side by side with a man who has been accused, right or wrong, of such a nasty betrayal. The mathematician does not admit to it and the wife is not capable of asking him directly, choosing to look for an answer with a historian involved in the screening process. The evidence of her husband's alleged collaboration is far from convincing, and it is extremely difficult to wipe out the thirty years of harmonious marriage. The pain is huge, but the atrophy of love is even greater. Does the truth, regardless of all, really have a liberating power in this particular case?
Asked this question, Michał Rosa replied:
"It is the only way for us to start functioning normally. However, it is a problem which I cannot solve or come to terms with and that's why I wanted to make this film. While I am aware that truth can involve an individual tragedy, I believe that this process is necessary in a wider, social perspective and it would be a greater tragedy to stop it." ("Kino" 09/2008)
Father Andrzej Luter, a "Kino" reviewer, passes, however, a more cautious judgment:
"Rosa does not give the easy answers to the audience. The most he does is to offer suggestions - and this is what makes this film great: no ideology, just a drama of individuals, personalism at its purest. The strength of this picture lies also in its high artistic standards: the perfect screenplay written by the director himself, Jankowska-Cieślak's and Stroiński's ascetic acting which superbly conveys the situation of ones unable to become their own masters, Koszałka's photography which introduces, like a counterpoint, a touch of poetry on one hand and Bergmannese dark existential atmosphere on the other hand ... Michał Rosa does not take away hope, but does not offer a solution, either. Having seen this film, I have a feeling that horrible truths must not be said. I mean such truths against which man as a victim of destructive moralizing is totally defenseless."
- Rysa / Scratch, Poland 2008. Written and directed by Michał Rosa, photography: Marcin Koszałka, music: Stanisław Radwan, art manager and costume designer: Anna Jagna Janicka, editing: Krzysztof Szpetmański, sound: Piotr Domaradzki. Starring: Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak (Joanna), Krzysztof Stroiński (Jan, her husband), Ewa Telega (Beata, their friend), Teresa Marczewska (Hanka, their friend), Ryszard Filipski (Marczak), Jerzy Nowak (Leon), Kinga Preis (Zosia, Joanna and Jan's daughter). Produced by Filmcontract Ltd., Telewizja Polska S.A. - Agencja Filmowa, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych, co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, distribution Fundacja Film Polski. Duration: 95 min. Relased on 19th September 2008.
Author: Konrad J. Zarębski, October 2008
Awards:
- 2008 - best screenplay, honorary mention for Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak and Krzysztof Stroiński - Polish Film Festival in Gdynia; award for artistic contribution for Michał Rosa - Festival of Young East-european Cinema in Cottbus.