‘PRYMAS – Trzy lata z tysiąca’

‘The Primate - Three Years of the Millennium’

1. Basıc ınformatıon about the fılm:

Dırector: Teresa Kotlarczyk

The tıtle: ‘The Primate - Three Years of the Millennium’

also known as ‘The Primate Europe’ (English title)

Main character: Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński

Cast:

Andrzej Seweryn,

Krzysztof Wakuliński,

Maja Ostaszewska,

Zbigniew Zamachowski,

Jerzy Trela,

Henryk Talar,

Mariusz Benoit,

Grzegorz Sikora

and others

Productıon: ATM Poland, 2000

Genre: psychological drama, historical film

2. where the film is set and in what period

The film is set in Poland in the beginning of 1950ties.

3. short summary of the plot

The film is based on facts from life of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.

It's the beginning of 1950ties. Communist authorities conduct the politics of repression against the Roman Catholic Church. Under the pretext of anti-state activity many bishops and priests have been being arrested. Stefan Kardynał Wyszyński in public addresses opposes unlawful proceedings of the authorities. Bierut decides to eliminate the political opponent and to isolate the spiritual leader from the society. The primate is being arrested and imprisoned in monastery in Stoczek Warmiński. He is imprisoned together with a priest Stanisław Skorodecki and sister Leonia who is on services of the Security Office -she is supposed to file written reports on everything what she will hear. The authorities expect that harassments and physical and psychological pressure will break the Cardinal and make him resign. However, passionate prayer and invincible faith let him not surrender. The authorities plan to use the double of Wyszynski who is supposed to renounce the control above the Church. Luckily, the priest Skorodecki gets into his possession a diary of sister Leonia, with written conversations with the Cardinal, and manages to hand it over to his father. The action with the double of the Cardinal is cancelled...

Work of Teresa Kotlarczyk divided critics, although favourable opinions, sometimes even enthusiastic, overbalanced. It is also a great merit of the scriptwriter, Jan Purzycki who based the scenario on ‘Prison Notes’ written by Cardinal Wyszyński himself and on rich documentation. However, it doesn't mean that the ‘Primate’ is a faithful reconstruction of historical facts. There is no historical evidence that communist authorities were really going to exploit the double for solving a conflict with the primate and the Church.

The film is also a real show of mastery of Andrzej Seweryn who performed both the role of the Cardinal Wyszyński and his double.

1. thıngs that partıcularly ımpressed you about the fılm

- ‘Primate’s Stefan Wyszyński demeanour, his devotion to God and people, his behaviour and faith’.

- ‘Dramatization’.

- ‘Devotion of people, who stand by the Church and Primate Stefan Wyszyński no matter what has happened with him, how much he has suffered for his zealous faith’.

- ‘Primate’s devotion to people and God’.

- ‘His fierce resistance to Communist authorities of Poland , his strength and faith’.

- ‘Relentless attitude to persecution and roughs which he suffered from the secret service officers and the government’.

- ‘Fight for freedom of Poland and the Church’.

- ‘The film’s drama, keeping the viewers in suspense, perfect performance of actors staging in the film’

- ‘The Primate who, in spite of blackmail and pain which he had to suffer, survived in God’.

- ‘Reality of those times’.

- ‘Primate’s devotion and self-sacrifice’.

2. the music: does ıt convey specıfıc themes/messages?

-‘Music has a very important function because it introduces the atmosphere and makes the viewer think.’

-‘It emphasizes the important moments of the film, adds thrill and emotions.’

-‘Music is very well matched to the times and to the situations presented on the screen.’

-‘It captures the mood of the situations presented in the film.’

-‘Music is the complement of the action.’

-‘It keeps viewers in tension and lets them understand the seriousness of the moment.’

-‘Mainly thanks to the music emotions were present’

-‘It was well matched to the scenes of the film’.

-‘It plays a very big role for the film’s plot , it emphasizes main moments and in some way helps viewer to find himself in the story.’

-‘Music makes the viewer interested in seeing what will happen next’

-‘It lets us feel the plot.’

‘Thanks to the music we can see much better how dramatic the film is.’

3. what ıs the message of the fılm and what dıd you learn from ıt?

‘ The film teaches us that forgiveness, perseverance and faith in ourselves and God are the most important values in our life’

‘ The film teaches us that forgiveness, perseverance and faith in ourselves and God are the most important values in our life and our attitude will be awarded in heaven’

‘ … never give up’

‘ The film taught us that forgiveness and faith in ourselves are significant’

‘ In our life we meet many bad people, who blackmail and tell us lies as in the film. We should always live according to moral rules and commandments. We should be able to forgive’

“The film teaches us, that we should respect the own faith because in the past people were persecuted for this what they believed in. It awakens us to the fact how lucky we are, we can practice our religion without consequences.”

“The film’s motto is to show young people, that some time ago there was was fight for freedom of religion. I learnt a lesson that we should appreciate freedom of the Polish Church because so many people have been suffering to let us go to churches without any obstacles now.”

“The film shows that the Church in Poland was fighting for freedom. Nowadays we can worship and not be afraid of anything. “

“The film presents that we have to live a life of truth, always tell the truth even if it is connected with serious consequences.”

“The film shows how important for humans personal freedom is and that with God we can survive all difficulties. It has taught us zealous fight in Jesus Christ and has presented the fact that it is worth having hope and love because they always win.”

4. what would you change ın the fılm?

Most of the students who have seen the film say that: ‘I like the film very much and I think nothing should be changed in it, the actors play very convincingly’.

‘The film has a very good script, presents the mood of that time , and we can understand how difficult life was.‘

‘In my opinion the film copies the reality of communist times perfectly but the action is too slow.’

The film was watched and reviewed by students from class IIb ZSnr2 in Dębica

see also in national language

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