mpadjasek

For me the chief value of "The Last Ferry" is that it is an accurate description of the attitudes of Poles before the introduction of martial law. The film may include some scenes and hints that are not understandable for people from other countries, but it is fast-paced and includes even some elements of action cinema. So it should not be boring to anyone. The plot centers around a high school teacher, Marek Ziarno (Krzysztof Kolberger), who is trying to smuggle some secret "Solidarity" documents to Hamburg in the last days of December 1981. In Swinoujscie, Marek boards the ferry to Hamburg, but the Security Service is close at his heels. "The Last Ferry" shows the attitudes of Marek's students and his traveling companions from the ferry. I was a student during that time and can remember that we were having similar discussions at our polytechnic, so the picture in "The Last Ferry" is true. But the film is not only about attitudes, because there is some action related to the smuggling of the documents to Hamburg and the actual introduction of martial law with the ferry being ordered to turn back to Poland. Maybe the events between 1981 and 1989 gave people more hope, because the film is not at all gloomy. There is some internal power and conviction that emanates from the characters who are on the side of the "Solidarity" movement. There is also a feeling of imminent victory, even if it is not at this particular moment in time, and the film ends with an optimistic note. So watching "The Last Ferry" gave me real pleasure.

I saw "Bronstein's Children" several years after reading the original novel by Jurek Becker. I remembered the name of Jurek Becker as a writer of the German TV series "Liebling Kreuzberg", which I watched in the 1980s. I loved the series for its humor, wit, wisdom, and constructive attitude towards life and other people. I didn't know then that Jurek Becker was born in Lodz and was a Holocaust survivor. Only some years later I read the novel "Bronstein's Children", where I learned some more facts about Jurek Becker. In the novel, Hans Bronstein (Matthiaus Paul) seems to be an "alter ego" of the writer himself, and Aaron Bronstein (Armin Muehler-Stahl) of his father. The motives of Hans's growing up and entering adulthood in East Berlin, as well as the relations of Hans with his father Aaron and sister Rachel (Karin Eickelbaum) were quite appealing and interesting to me. But I am not sure about the part of the plot in which Aaron and his colleagues kidnap and imprison suspected concentration camp kapo (Rolf Hoppe). If it is to be interpreted symbolically, then it is okay. But if we have to take this literally, it goes too far for me. As a Pole, who was born well after WW2, I probably don't have enough insight to understand the emotions related to concentration camp trauma, but the law is for all of us. Even the biggest criminals have their rights, and only the courts have the right to judge people and pass sentences on them. So I had to put a big question mark and filter out this part of the plot. The same goes for the film. Otherwise, I watched the film with great interest. It was well done (the director was the famous Jerzy Kawalerowicz) and the acting was good. I think that nothing can go wrong when you have such experienced and great actors as Armin Muehler-Stahl and Rolf Hoppe. But considering that my copy of the novel is from the series "Masterpieces of the XX century" by Suddeutsche Zeitung, I rather disagree and think that neither the book nor the film are masterpieces. But I enjoyed reading the novel and watching the film and thought they were both interesting.

I saw "Wedle wyrokow twoich" (According to your judgements) on Polish TV and was attracted to it by many famous names of people who participated in its creation. And it included not only Polish names but also Jewish writers Artur Brauner and Paul Hennge and the German actor Mathieu Carriere, whom I remembered from the fine adaptation of Hans Fallada's bestseller "Ein Mann will nach oben". The plot is about the ordeal of the young Jewish girl Ruth (Sharon Brauner), and is loosely based on the memoirs of the writer and producer Artur Brauner (born in Lodz), who survived Holocaust. The film is well done, fast paced and with good acting, so I was gripped by its many dramatic scenes. But it is not as good as the best Holocaust movies from the 1980s, like "Sophie's Choice" or "Triumph of the Spirit". " According to your judgements" does not have the psychological depth of the mentioned-before masterpieces, and its characters are too conventional and a bit one-dimensional. The reason may be that director Jerzy Hoffman specialized more in action-packed blockbusters than psychological dramas. Nevertheless, it's a good movie. To me, the most remarkable thing about " According to your judgements" is how and when it was made. It was created at the time when the Iron Curtain still separated Europe and by the international Polish/Jewish/German team of people. So even then it was possible to get together and produce a good movie.