Film still from "Rite of Passage 1947", director. Janusz Majewski, photo. Monolith
The 2005 feature film The End of the Season was meant to mark veteran filmmaker Janusz Majewski's last foray into film. But it wasn't long before the seventy-year old cut short his retirement in Poland's Mazury region (the setting of previous film projects such as the TV series Abode and the film The End of the Season) where he was planning on finishing his memoirs. These include the second half of his autobiography, The Last Take. A memoir of my films, released in 2006, (the first half, Retropersective having previously been published in 2001) and Mała matura 1947" / "Rite of Passage 1947 hit shelves in 2010.
It was the latter publication (whose Polish title also translates to "Little Baccalaureate" or "Small Graduation") that has heralded Majewski's return to the screen. Even in its unfinished form, producers were already suggesting a film adaptation. It didn't take long for Majewski to agree - by the time the book went on sale the film was already completed. It quickly won the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia's Special Jurors' Award in 2010, followed by further distinctions at the Regionfun Festival in Katowice last September.
The story treads a fine line between the autobiographical and the universal. It follows the tribulations of a family from Lviv through the perspective of an adolescent boy. Divided into three parts, the first part deals with the boy's pre-war childhood; the second part delves into an exploration of the country during wartime, whilst the third and final segment describes the family's relocating to Kraków and their first post-war years in the city. It is the third part that forms the on-screen narrative.
Why did Majewski get back behind the camera again? The same reason why he wrote the book: to give an accurate portrayal of that era of Polish history.
In an interview for Polityka (nr 16/2011) Majewski describes how the present generation imagines post-war Poland as "a grim and sullen gulag", but in reality it was quite different:
While various underground groups mercilessly wiped out those who they perceived to be "enemies of the people" (and) in revenge, there followed assaults and military seizures. Particularly heated representatives of the new government waged the death sentence. Although sometimes battles waged between locals…who can tell nowadays? In cities such as Kraków the sense of fear was just beginning. I remember how my friends, these fun-loving guys, found the surname "Lion" really amusing when they once found it in a telephone book. So they called (Mr. Lion) and asked him if he could roar. Mr. Lion turned out to be the head of the Security Office and roar he did - that same evening the fathers of both boys were arrested. Only then did it occur to us that the time for joking was over.
Majewski's Rite of Passage is a traditional - if not a typical - coming of age film. Seventeen-year-old Ludwik Taschke travels from Lwow to Kraków in the spring of 1945, along with his parents and his sister. The boy is fascinated with his new city, previously known to him only through postage stamps. He is accepted to a reputable school, where the teachers don't talk about the changes currently underway in the country. Their task is simply to prepare the boys for a moral life - independent of politics. For the time being, Ludwik is simply concerned with being a teenager, trying to single himself out amongst his contemporaries, and suffering the first raptures of love. Politics soon creep into his life, entirely unwelcome.
Out of mere curiosity, he takes part in a meeting in honour of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, which is subsequently shut down by the police. Ludwik gets arrested and only escapes thanks to the help of a high official in the Security Office in Lviv. Ludwik's friends have less luck when they try to rebel against an increasingly Stalinist reality, they run up against the brutal resistance of the government authorities, who are willing to punish anyone who goes against its norms by death.
Two years after his arrival in Kraków, Ludwik prepares for his final graduation exam (matura) that marks the end of his time in high school. He is already a different person. Not yet fully matured, but nevertheless aware of the systematic repression in which he now lives.
Mała matura 1947" / "Rite of Passage 1947 is an engaging, period film. Janusz Majewski's direction allows for a fair bit of nostalgia, both with regards to the joys of youth as well as with his general film style. Majewski's films are a rare breed: scholarly and knowledgeable, his is also a cinema of forgotten elegance - recalling a world which is no more. With a host of acting talent, clear direction and narration, it's easy to recognise the film as the product of one of the great masters of polish cinema. This explains the presence of the film's many stars, with big names taking up even minor roles. Among them Marek Kondrat, like Majewski, had also resigned from his on screen career. "A Small Examination" heralds his return. The film also includes newcomers, such as Adam Wróblewski and Antoni Królikowski.
- Mała matura 1947" / "The Rite of Passage 1947", Poland 2010. Screenplay and direction: Janusz Majewski, cinematography: Adam Bajerski, music: Tomasz Stańko, set design: Andrzej Haliński, costume: Elżbieta Radke, editing: Milenia Fiedler, sound: Krzysztof Jastrząb. Starring: Adam Wróblewski (LudwikTaschke), Antoni Królikowski (Romek Szrama), Marek Kondrat (profesor Matoń), Wojciech Pszoniak (major Trzaska), Wiktor Zborowski (profesor "Syfon"), Agnieszka Michalska (matka Ludwika), Artur Żmijewski (ojciec Ludwika), Sonia Bohosiewicz (mecenasowa), Olgierd Łukaszewicz (dyrektor szkoły), Marian Opania (profesor Schlapka), Elżbieta Trzaskoś (siostra Ludwika). Production: A feature and Documentary Film Manufactory: Kraków Film Office. Part-funding: The Polish Institute of Film Art, the Regional Kraków Film Fund. Distribution: Monolith Plus. Runtime: 110 min. In Polish cinemas April 15, 2011.
The film is also on the programme of the Polish Film Festival in New York, which takes place between May 4-8, 2011. March 2011