- On September 5, director Agnieszka Holland’s film The Green Border will premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it will compete for the most important award – the Golden Lion.
- The image was attacked for months by the government and public-controlled media
- The film does not mitigate reality, nor does it deny that the people expelled into the forest are an ambush of the democratic system
- This devastating film takes the audience’s nerve to reveal the bloody price of a political fear campaign
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Long before the festival begins in Venice, where Green Borders – along with Woman From… by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert – will compete with the world’s best cinematography for the Golden Lion – Agnieszka Holland’s film has been covered by Wiiadomości. TVB. The PiS politicians who control the public media are not far behind.
Thus we heard about a “disgraceful creep stalking Polish families” (Krystina Pawlovich), or “another election lawsuit” (Patrick Jackie), or “Propaganda of the Third Reich” (Zbigniew Ziobro). All this, of course, without visiting the cinema, because it will only be possible from September 22nd.
Ironically, if we judge on the basis of honor and faith, the Netherlands, which has been nominated for an Oscar three times, has also given the ruling party a reason to be proud. The painting was created without state support from Poland, which Minister Glinski carefully emphasized.
“Green Borders”: Welcome to the European Union
“We are in Poland, we are in the European Union!” – A refugee reassures a small group of his comrades. With their dreams of a life without war, they fall into Alexander Lukashenko’s trap. Instead of the promised Sweden, Belarusian guards are pushing them towards our borders. The joy of taking the first steps in the Polish forest does not last long. Although international law requires providing shelter to migrants, the authorities use the state of emergency as a means of defence Push-back tactics.
We look at the ongoing drama of dehumanized refugees from different perspectives: border guards trained in cruelty (“Remember, these are not human beings, they are Lukashenka’s weapons, don’t be fooled by crying children” – they hear from their boss) – and activists risking imprisonment, offering… Help from “tied” hands.
In Podlasie, we meet Jan (Tomasz Włosok), a working guard, counting down the days to welcome his daughter into the world, and Julia (Maja Ostaszewska), a valued psychotherapist whose husband has been taken away by the coronavirus. In “The Green Frontier” they become bearers of questions and doubts: when the uniform worn with pride is covered with shame and vigilance against injustice, it leads to prosperity.
“Green Borders”: Agnieszka Holland puts diplomacy aside
Agnieszka Holland puts diplomacy aside. Back to The scandalous conference of Ministers Mariusz Poszczak and Mariusz Kaminski, During which migrants were said to be “sexually twisted people,” suggesting pedophilia and bestiality. Minister Puszakzak and President Andrzej Duda also appear on screen during the August 2021 conference, when they spoke about the “tense situation” at the border. The Netherlands stresses that the European Union is by no means innocent of condemning migrants to death in the Mediterranean.
But although “Green Borders” is stylistically black and white (very good cinematography by Tomas Nomiuk) – as a sign of mourning for the thousands of people Europe is reaching out to for not embracing them – there are thankfully some shades of gray in the film. the plot. Leaving a paralyzed person in the woods is an impossible situation even for activists who skillfully overcome mountains of absurdity, and the police, manipulated by top-down orders, can sometimes show a human face.
Holland, with screenplay co-writers Gabriela Lazarkiewicz and Maciej Bisuk, does not present a documentation of the events on the Polish-Belarusian border, as Michal Zadara does in the play “Responsibility” (Pawszczny Theater in Warsaw). Interspersing subsequent scenes with archival material may enhance their believability, but it may also compromise the accessibility of the film’s language, which is designed to reach the widest possible audience.
“Green Frontier” works not only as a social statement inspired by life, but also as a full-fledged drama with elements of psychological thriller and sometimes tragicomedy. The mockery of those who are afraid to risk their own privileges can be seen in a satirical scene with the heroine of Agata Kuleza, a wealthy town lady who drowns her regret by saying “I always voted for the civic programme.”
“Green Border”: brutality upon brutality
The two-and-a-half-hour long session also goes unnoticed thanks to the well-managed international staff, made up of refugees and people involved in aid on the Polish-Belarusian border. This representational value of the film cannot be doubted, even for the camp of today’s government, which rejects all arguments.
“Green Borders” does not mitigate reality and does not attempt to obscure its paradoxes. He does not deny that the people expelled into the forest are an ambush for the democratic system. At the same time, it shows how easily European authorities responded to brutality with brutality. This devastating film takes the audience’s nerve to reveal the bloody price of a political fear campaign. It assumes the collapse of the wall of interpersonal relations and the restoration of awareness, tenderness and tenderness as the basis of humanity beyond divisions.
Agnieszka Holland does not offer a ready-made solution for a Europe in crisis. “Green Borders” screams that death cannot be the solution to the crisis.
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