Dance of Death. Scenes from the Warsaw Uprising begins its tale on the twelfth day of the Warsaw Uprising. The two main characters -Irena and Marek - try to get to downtown Warsaw from the outskirts of the city. Irena (Magdalena Cielecka) is a Volksdeutsch. She is also the mother of a boy scout fighting against the Germans in the Uprising. The woman attempts to find her son in the turmoil of the conflict. Irena collaborates with the Germans. She is suspected of shooting at Polish children. Being lynched by Poles is a real threat to her. The young boy Marek (Rafał Fudalej) searches for his father, whom he believes might be in the city hall. He is unaware of Irena's true nature, believing her to be an activist of the Uprising. The two are fascinated by one another.
Director Leszek Wosiewicz avers in an interview with the Rzeczpospolita daily that his aim was not geared at historical accuracy. His approach was to examine the various aspects and meanings behind the events of August 1944 and also their repercussions in today's world, where so many people continue to fight for freedom. In the interview Wosiewicz says, "I asked myself a question about the functioning of our civilization. I wanted to know what freedom is. I tried to confront myths, our memory and our approach to the past. I wanted to activate the viewers’ imagination. I wanted them to enter that past world and see their own dilemmas in it".
The film is the first feature picture about the Warsaw Uprising made after 1989, over fifty years after the release of Wajda's Kanal. Fellow director Jan Komasa, director of Suicide Room is also planning his own take on the subject, with filming planned for the spring of 2013 and the premiere set for the anniversary commemoration of the Uprising. In an interview with the online portal interia.pl Komasa explained that the film would be strongly rooted in reality, but the characters would be fictitious. As the director explains, these characters are
Young people, full of hope, having plans for the future, whose lives end in the Warsaw Uprising. They picked up arms to save somebody, and not thinking much, they risked their own lives. They were heroes, who didn’t inquire about the nature of heroism. I would like to ask contemporary viewers such a question. I think that we live in a society, which requires little heroism of us. It is therefore easier for a coward to conceal himself. During the uprising it was plain to see, who was brave and who wasn’t. On the other hand it was perfectly possible for a real hero and his exact opposite to fight side to side on the same barricade. The occupants as well as the insurgents were only human. That is very modern and eternal.
In 2005 the Polish Film Institute announced a competition for a screenplay about the Warsaw Uprising. The main prize in the feature contest was given to two projects: 1944. Warsaw by Krzysztof Stecki and Tomasz Zatwarnicki and Last Sunday by Dariusz Gajewski and Przemysław Nowakowski. Neither film has been realised, mainly due to budgetary limitations.
Komasa’s project is being co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The institution’s director Agnieszka Odorowicz made the decision in spite of negative expert opinions towards the idea, stating in an interview with Polska The Times, "I think that Polish films should tell Polish stories. Nobody will do this for us. It is well, when such works are noticed abroad, when they win awards, because that’s great publicity for the movies and for our country".
In spite of the obstacles facing the film industry, a number of historical feature films have come to the international screen, including Jerzy Hoffman's Battle of Warsaw 1920, Wojciech Smarzowski's award-winning Rose and Manhunt by Marcin Kryształowicz - the latter two set around the time of World War II. Łukasz Barczyk is currently making a high-budget movie about the Greater Poland Uprising, entitled Spaniard.
Leszek Wosiewicz’s Dance of Death. Scenes from the Warsaw Uprising is screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival will compete for the Golden Goblet award alongside seventeen other productions from across the world (including movies by such creators as Petri Kotwica or Pavel Lungin). Another WWII-era film - Feliks Falk’s Joanna - is being screened in the festival's Spectrum section. The festival is among the largest cinematic events in Asia, second only to Pusan.
For more information about the Shanghai International Film Festival, see: www.siff.com .
Editor: Marek Kepa, Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Shanghai International Film Festival, Polish Film Institute