Karol Wojtyła's biography has been told and retold in numerous documentary and feature productions, made both in John Paul II's lifetime and after his passing. The producers of Jan Paweł II - Szukałem Was" / "John Paul II – I Kept Looking for You… have set out to recall the universal message the pope left behind, while illustrating his place in the history of both the Catholic Church and the world
In an interview for the Polish Press Agency in February 2011, Jarosław Szmidt, the film's director and co-screenwriter, explained that the main objective "was to attempt to understand the greatness of John Paul II, and to attempt to find an explanation as to why the people and the world seemed to have changed wherever he appeared. We also tried to find an answer as to why we loved, and continue to love him so much". The production of the film lasted four years - the majority spent rummaging through film archives in search of previously unseen material. This was extracted from the Vatican Film Library, the Polish National Film Archive, the archives of: WFDIF (Documentary and Feature Film Production Company), the Polish Television channel, the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Film Documentaries, the Polish Press Agency, Poland's Episcopate and private collections. The producers also reached into various Italian television channels' resources.
Jarosław Szmidt recalls:
The Vatican Film Library stocks thousands of hours of recordings showing various events that took place during John Paul II's pontificate; this is where some of the material we used in our film comes from. These are, among others, excerpts from coverage of his first pilgrimages which were not broadcast by the communist television of the time, thus depriving Poles of any knowledge about them. This was also the time when John Paul II was at the peak of his physical strength, when his message was "taking over" the world, while Polish society was unable to participate in these developments because the television channels would not provide the information.
The featured material also contains private footage which has been taken in thirteen countries and 120 remote corners of the world - from Vatican and Poland to the Holy Land, Africa and South America. The film is narrated by a television journalist Krzysztof Ziemiec.
Archive footage and recent images of places visited by John Paul II are paired with interviews with about 30 people - moral authorities of the contemporary world and representatives of world's largest religions - among them, the Dalai Lama, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Patriarch of Constantinople and former Polish President and Nobel Peace prize laureate Lech Wałęsa. The closest co-workers of the Polish pope, starting with Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, could not naturally be omitted.
The film begins with scenes from St. Peter's Square on October 16, 1978 and the famous speech of Karol Wojtyła, a newly-elected pope who has arrived from a distant country. Afterwards, the producers focus on the most significant themes of John Paul II's pontificate. The first such subject is the relationship between the Church and the state and the matter of Liberation theology in Latin America - not approved by the pope himself, but nevertheless very popular in this part of the world.
The second theme of the film is the pope's support of liberation movements through the spread of the evangelical word - just like in Warsaw during the memorable mass that took place in the former Victory Square in June of 1979, when the unforgettable words were spoken: "Let your Holy Ghost ascend and change the countenance of the land. This land". The third great theme of this particular pontificate is the idea of mercifulness - in the film represented by the assassination attempt on the pope's life and his act of forgiveness for his attacker. The documentary also explores the matter of inculturation in the context of Africa, where Christianity could be interpreted as a religion of the white man. Jarosław Szmidt devotes a lot of time to the World Youth Day celebrations initiated by John Paul II and the relationship of Catholicism with other world religions, with Judaism in particular. The recollections of Yisrael Meir Lau, the Chief Rabbi of Israel in the years 1993-2003, are particularly memorable in this context. He tells an anecdote about father Wojtyła, who suggested to the guardians of a young Jewish orphan to rethink whether his parents would really want him to be christened.
"This for me is the most significant scene of Szmidt's film," wrote Father Andrzej Luter in an issue of Kino magazine (3/2011), "because it shows the Christian side of the pope to the greatest degree. The more one understands the sensitivity of those of a different faith, the more one connects with, in this case, Christian identity, and their own faith becomes more authentic and true".Later in the article Father Luter concludes:
Jarosław Szmidt does not try to hide the fact John Paul II is both a moral and spiritual authority to him, although thankfully this has not resulted in a creation of a dull apologia, despite the film coming close to becoming just that on a few occasions. In his opinion, the blessed pope from Poland is a man open to all people, and Christianity has universal, rather than strictly national dimension. Throughout the film, excerpts of psalms and "The Roman Triptych" by Jerzy Grałek can be heard, with music composed by Michał Lorenc in the background.
On February 9, 2011, "John Paul II. I Kept Looking for You..." was presented in the Vatican Film Library and the screening was attended by the Primate of Poland Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland appointed to the Vatican: Hanna Suchocka, Head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications: Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the former spokesman of the Holy See: Joaquín Navarro Valls and Pope Benedict XVI's secretary: prelate Alfred Xuereb.
John Paul II: I Kept Looking for You… Poland, 2011. Director, Director of photography: Jarosław Szmidt, Screenplay: Jarosław Szmidt, Mariusz Wituski, Musical score: Michał Lorenc. Editor: Konrad Styczeń. Sound: Tomasz Dukszta. Voice-over narration: Krzysztof Ziemiec. Produced by: Artrama. Distributed by: Studio Interfilm. Running time: 90min.
Premiere: March 11, 2011
Author: Konrad J. Zarębski, March 2011. English version by Roberto Galea, March 2011.