A scene from "Lynch" by Krzysztof Łukaszewicz
The lynching of a 60-year-old man by a group of young people in the village of Włodów near Olsztyn on July 1, 2005 was widely publicised in the Polish media. The film is not so much concerned with the nature of mob law, but the cause of the incident. The victim was actually a habitual offender – he had spent over half of his life in different prisons, and terrorised the local neighbourhood whenever he regained his freedom. The perpetrators tried to defend their relatives and other residents, while the designated public-order bodies refused to come to their assistance. Who, then, was the hangman and who was the victim?
Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, a first-time director, decided to investigate. He conducted an elaborate journalistic inquiry, ultimately resulting in the film Lincz / Lynch. The picture carefully reconstructs both the incident itself and the trial against the perpetrators of the crime. It was shot close to the village of Włodów in a similar landscape and social environment, maintaining both the original character of the environs and circumstances.
At the height of summer in the village of Kruty in the Mazurian Lake District, Zaranek, a 60-year-old habitual offender, prowls the streets inciting fear in its habitants. When a cashier refuses to sell him a bottle of vodka on credit, she is brutally beaten. A moment later the man visits his neighbour's house where he demands money. Her refusal to comply prompts an aggressive outburst, and she is beaten unconscious, requiring surgery. After being discharged from the hospital, the woman moves in with her daughter, but Zaranek refuses to leave her in peace. He assaults the landlady and tries to extort protection money from her. He bothers her the following day in her neighbours' yard, and with a knife he carried in his breast pocket, he wounds a man who stands up for her.
The police seem powerless, although the commanding officer from the nearest precinct admits that he has enough men at his disposal to intervene. Facing more threats, the village men decide to take matters into their own hands, and deliver justice themselves. They brutally beat Zaranek in order to warn him against committing further acts of violence, but that same evening somebody discovers his mutilated body. The public prosecutor orders the Grad brothers who took part in the fight to be arrested. To him, the case is obvious: several young men assaulted a vulnerable old man. But the village demands justice for its defenders. They manage to raise enough money to hire a lawyer. However, the price of proving the truth turns out very high indeed.
Screened at the 2010 Koszalin Youth and Cinema Debut Film Fesitval, the film was awarded the Grand Prix - Wielki Jantar award. One could speculate that perhaps one of the reasons for the jury's decision was the fact that Łukaszewicz's film resembles Krzysztof Krauze's controversial Dług / The Debt (1999) - similarly both a thriller and a social drama depicting the analogous case of two Warsaw businessmen murdering a criminal who blackmailed them. Just like the characters from Lynch, the murderers from The Debt were forced to deliver justice themselves due to the police's complete passivity and inadequate laws to deal with such situations. This, in Krzysztof Krauze's opinion, proved the state's weakness. Lynch seems to draw similar conclusions although the director remarks that:
The lynching incident in Włodów exhibits a certain embarrassing phenomenon typical for our society, although I don't think it's exclusive for us alone. When a person from the countryside turns to us - people from the city - for help, we make an effort to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Theoretically, they should be listened to, but we haven't got the patience for it, as they tend to wash less frequently, and drink more often which is apparent in their smell. They can be uneducated, sometimes unmannered, less keen to make a deal and in comparison to us, they seem old-fashioned, stuck in the past. And we quickly rid ourselves of them, opening the nearest window with relief in order to, as the figurative phrase goes, clear the air.
Contemporary Polish films are usually centred around large cities and their more sophisticated residents. Łukaszewicz offers a different point of view: his camera penetrates the shameful world, hidden and consciously omitted, but does it in a rather surprising fashion. The director uses the experience of actors who perform in television series, typically in more glamorous roles. The effect of this strategy is at times surprising - alongside the sharp performance by Wiesław Komasa as Zaranek, taken straight from a gory horror film, we encounter colourful characters that appear quite natural against the background of the countryside. A number of highly-valued actors were required to act against the knowledge of their craft, as the director explains:
It transpired that in order to achieve credibility, it was necessary to apply a few fairly ‘anti-acting' techniques. This meant not delivering lines clearly but mumbling them under your breath, positioning yourself slightly to the side, with your back to the camera, looking away and avoiding eye contact. And apart from pronounciation and a peculiar accent, there was also the matter of body language which is most evident in the nervous, irregular step of Iza Kuna who, it should be added, brilliantly broke the dialogue, already scripted as 'broken' - with a reversed word order and irregular punctuation...
Lynch is a rare example, seldom present in Polish film, of "balanced cinema". It is a thriller with ambitions of social drama. A film that explores current issues, which pays heed both to the aesthetic considerations of cinema and its philosophical considerations as well.
- Lincz/ Lynch, Poland, 2010. Written and directed by Krzysztof Łukaszewicz, director of photography: Witold Stok, composer: Jarosław M. Papaj, set design: Małgorzata Grabowska-Kozera, wardrobe: Anna Hornostaj, edited by Milenia Fielder, sound recording: Wojciech Ślusarz. Cast: Leszek Lichota (Adam Grad), Agnieszka Podsiadlik (Reneta Grad, , Adam's wife), Wiesław Komasa (Zaranek), Maciej Mikołajczyk (Marcin Grad, Adam's brother), Łukasz Simlat (Dariusz Grad, Adam's brother), Izabela Kuna (Jagoda Slota), Zbigniew Stryj (policeman Jurecki), Krzysztof Franieczek (prosecutor), Tamara Arciuch (Łubieńska, lawyer), Ireneusz Kozioł (Charewicz, Renata's father). Produced by: the Documentary and Feature Film Production Company, co-produced by: the West-Pomeranian Film Fund "Pomerania Film", co-financed by: the Polish Film Institute, the West-Pomeranian District Marshal Council, Szczecin Town Council, Koszalin Town Council. Distributed by: Kino Świat. Duration: 81min.
Polish premiere: May 13, 2011.
By: Konrad J. ZarębskiSee also an interview with Krzysztof Łukaszewicz by Konrad J. Zarębski.