Smarzowski Tackles Alcoholism
In his cinematic adaptation of Jerzy Pilch’s award-winning novel The Mighty Angel, the renowned Polish director intends to "move and hurt" the viewer
Robert Więckiewicz in Wojciech Smarzowski's "Angel", photo: Jacek Drygała
In his cinematic adaptation of Jerzy Pilch’s Nike award-winning novel, The Mighty Angel, the renowned Polish director intends to "move and hurt" the viewer
Still from Wojciech Smarzowski's "Angel", photo: Jacek Drygała
Juruś, the protagonist of Angel, is an alcoholic who goes from detox wards to rehabilitation centres and his local bar, the Mighty Angel. "Alcoholism affects people from different spheres, the educated and the uneducated," the director Smarzowski comments. "This film is about drinking, about alcoholism as an illness and starting anew".
Still from Wojciech Smarzowski's "Angel", photo: Jacek Drygała / Kino Świat
Smarzowski uses Jerzy Pilch’s novel The Mighty Angel as a base for his film. He wrote the filmscript and, as he has mentioned to the media, he hoped to find a balance between maintaining Pilch’s style and blending in his own. Smarzowski says about the structure of the film and his intentions regarding its reception,
A drunkard’s conception of time is not linear. I start the story off normally, then we get lost in what is the present and the past. I would like this film to animate a discussion because I think that there are few among us who haven’t been directly or indirectly affected by the illness.
Robert Więckiewicz on the set of Wojciech Smarzowski's "Angel", photo. Jacek Drygała / Kraków Festival Office
Smarzowski, director of the award-winning, history-tainted love story Rose, began filming in October 2012 around Kraków, and Angel is scheduled to premiere in early 2014. The cast includes the superb Polish actors Robert Więckiewicz (Juruś), Andrzej Grabowski, Adam Woronowicz, Marian Dziędziela, Kinga Preis and Eryk Lubos.
Sources: based on the original Polish article by DB for Culture.pl, translated and edited by MJ 16.05.2013
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