Walesa. Czlowiek z nadziei

WALESA: A MAN OF HOPE : A MISNOMER DOCUMENTARY

BY PRADIP BISWAS, THE Indian EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS, India JURY MEMBER OF INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF India AND FRIGOURG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, SWISS

44TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF India, GOA, 2013

At the age of 87, that remarkable Polish film-maker Andrzej Wajda has directed a documentary with false gusto called WALESA : A MAN OF HOPE. It is of 87 minute duration. The lead performance is done by Robert Wieckiewicz. It is said it's a biopic tribute to the trade-union leader Lech Wałesa, founder of the Solidarity movement: bullish, cantankerous, and finally wrong doer as his movement could not bring the golden age for the Socialist countries that he in association with CIA lobby uprooted. This is such a truth many would hate to be convinced. But it is true, very true and true again. Wałesa's defiance of Poland's Soviet masters removed the very first brick from the Berlin Wall. Famously, Wałesa was the one subversive trade-union leader whom Margaret Thatcher felt able to love: Arthur Scargill did not enjoy the same admiration. So is Lindsay Anderson, the angry unbritish British director, founder of FREE CINEMA

Wałesa: Man of Hope is a belated companion piece to his Man of Marble (1977) and Man of Iron (1981) respectively. It discloses now an unexpected trilogy, and somehow hints it. In retrospect, that the heroic "Man" of those first two films really was Wałesa all along, so said Peter Bradshaw, the right-winger critic of THE GUARDIAN. It starts as a shipyard electrician, devoted to his young wife Danuta, (Agnieszka Grochowska), and to their growing family, and radicalised by the Gdansk shipyard riot of 1970. Amusingly, Wajda, armed with his skewed perception. idolizes Wałesa's luxuriant moustache that made him famous and recognizable: the anti-Stalin in the cause of freedom. His activism moreover coincided with the sensational arrival of the charismatic new Polish Pope John Paul II; the Catholic Wałesa was a key political beneficiary. It's an invigorating and very enjoyable film from a director who shows no sign of slowing down.

Winner of Nobel Peace Prize, Walesa in fact brought down socialism with a hope that his new State would bring golden age to those betrayed by the corrupt socialist regimes. Good. Good to that extent that hold some iota of substance. But after that??? The regime that he brought about for the betrayed people of Poland just failed to deliver goods as the hope of the big Capitalist Nations poured not an inch of financial succour to the hard-hit Poland. The common people who used to get free ration, food, milk and education are all gone for a burton, for ever. The current Poland is neither Socialist country nor a proud Capitalist country. It is in economic shamble.

What the great Wajda has done is to show the false side of the coin. We cannot accept such

a film by Andrzey Wayda. for many viewers could be enough for guarantee a remarkable movie. but a film about Walesa by Wajda is more than a good movie.certainly, it represents a real event. sure, first for subject. than for acting. and for photography. it is not a homage but a tool for discover a man behind masks, rules, verdicts and definitions. because Walensa by Wajda is an ordinary person, fragile and angry, vulnerable and religious, fascinating and human. his humanity, his deep humanity does it one of remarkable leaders and the portrait reminds the Biblical heroes for the force of fight and for profound faith. for me, a man from East, this film is, in a special form, a masterpiece. not for itself but for the splendid art to remember a reality who is basis for contemporary society from a part of Europe. and, sure, as exercise of memory. because, after two decades and a half is not easy to see the reality only as show , ignoring its roots.

At the outset, Walesa: Man of Hope is not an ordinary film. It is one of the best examples of Polish director Mr.Andrzej Wajda's unending talent and enormous cinematographic vision. The best thing about this film is how does one dramatize real life incidents to create a biopic which is both entertaining and rich in details. It is because of this quality that the film is so tightly structured that while watching it, one doesn't even realize how 128 minutes have passed. The film finds its origin in a detailed interview conducted by noted Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci. She takes the help of an interpreter (Italian-Polish) in order to ask important questions to Mr.Lech Walesa related to his turbulent life. What is of interest is that not only she asks pertinent questions but also receives candid answers. The manner in which these questions and answers are represented on the screen speak volumes about Mr.Andrzej Wajda's method of filmmaking. He goes to a relatively distant past to reveal unknown facets about a man who would become hugely famous after a decade. Polish actor Robert Wieckiwicz is extremely ideal in his role as Lech Walesa-one of the most famous Polish citizens whose name is known even to many young schoolchildren all over the world.Lastly,Walesa:Man of hope is not a film.It is pure history in making about a person who changed the destiny of a whole nation.

Biopics can often be dull affairs and 'Walesa, Man of Hope' does not initially inspire, with its corny subtitle and hackneyed framing (the man giving an interview in which eh looks back on his life). But Lech Walesa was (and is) an genuinely interesting man who moreover was cursed to live in interesting times: a not-so-humble ordinary man who more or less appointed himself to lead a group of striking miners in Poland, a rabble-rouser yet a realist, and arguably the leading global symbol of resistance to the late-era communist dictatorships in eastern Europe. Film-make Andrzej Wadja lived through this time himself, and while his portrait of Walesa is compelling though simplistic (his strengths, it is suggested, did not lie in his subtlety of character), we also see exactly how the regime retained power. Some of my favourite moves were made by Kieslowski in the hopeless aftermath of the period of martial law imposed in the early 1980s; this film tells us more about why that martial law was imposed, and also, why the hopelessness it inspired was ultimately misplaced. The Communist officials come across as less pure evil, but as ordinary people themselves, who've talked themselves into a position where they perceive they have no choice but to run a broken and oppressive system. Walesa challenged them and ultimately was a major force for change. And Wadja's film is a convincing portrait of the man and his times.

An amazing depiction of an amazing charismatic person who risked his own life to change history of his country and he did it! Being a simple worker he successfully challenged the communist system. The movie shows Walesa for who he really was: cocky, self absorbed, but very brave and unselfish at the same time. His predominant fight was that of freedom and better life for all Polish people. Dealing with such serious issues, the movie contains a huge dose of humour showing Walesa as a funny person. The movie is quite fast paced, keeps you engaged as well as gives you a history lesson that's not boring. A definite must see! especially for those under the age of 30 who don't remember those events.