Jezioro Bodenskie (1986) - full transcript
A Pole who spent time in an internment camp during the war on the Swiss-German border, visits the site many years later and recalls these days. He meets with other Poles confined in the same camp, including several women, in whose he had romantic interests.
THE ‘PERSPEKTYWA’ FILM STUDIO
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Meanwhile the war broke out
and I was taken a prisoner
in a German school,
just a few steps away from the Swiss border.
So this terrible dream that hunts
every man became real.
Go back to school,
because you are not mature enough.
Yeah, I got kicked out of a Polish lesson,
I have to do a terrible German language assignment,
I will have to retake history
and I have done
all of the calculations incorrectly at maths.
I have to start them again,
so I decided to write this diary.
Konstanz, September 1940.
The internment camp.
The most extraordinary group of people
from all over Europe.
Partially English, partially French, partially Polish.
Stateless people, without passports.
They wanted to exchange us for
Germans interned in France and England,
so they took whoever they could.
These two groups are 70 French governesses from Warsaw,
and here are English sailors taken
from a merchant ship near Norway.
Now we are going to our people,
from our class.
All of them have been brought from Warsaw.
This is a Pole with a French citizenship.
MacKinley, he used to be a lecturer in Warsaw.
He dreams of the brotherhood of nations
within the British Empire.
Vilbert, a poet. He wanted to see the homeland
of Mickiewicz and Slowacki.
He came to Poland on the 31st of August 1939.
Mister Thomson,
everyone like him, because he speaks
once every few days.
Krupski brothers, monsters.
Their own mother denounced
them as French
and she joined a monastery.
Wildermayer, an Alsatian.
He spent his entire life in Podole,
he has never been in Alsatia.
Hello!
Let’s take a seat.
Mr. Pociejak,
a Varsovian with a long tradition.
He found out that he had English citizenship
when the Germans came to intern him.
Father Cleont,
after the defeat he has started
to believe that God doesn’t exist.
You mean the Polish defeat.
No, he meant the panicky flight of the French.
Gentlemen,
we don’t have to worry about
any temporary defeats
as long as there is understanding
and harmony between the Allies.
John Smith,
Garry Carpenter,
Nick Meising,
Robert Davis.
Who she is?
Suzanne,
milk with honey, fresh bread with butter,
coffee with cream.
And you have to eat this moldy wholemeal bread
and drink this black, stinking liquid.
Ah, whatever.
As a matter of fact, they don’t give
us the best food here.
In our Podolia region, so many cattle were killed,
that it would be enough to feed the entire
German division for one month.
People! Switzerland declared war on Germany!
Sailors, let’s burn this place!
Oh shit!
What have you done?
An alarm!
Did you hear those shots?
It is the Swiss artillery trying to shoot
at the barracks next to us.
I knew this in the morning,
but I didn't want to bother you.
Father, go to the shelter.
To the shelter, now!
They will kill us here,
for God’s sake!
This is all nonsense, gentlemen,
a railwayman shot a German policeman
who was having affair with his wife
on the border.
And what about the explosions?
These are just military exercises.
I fooled you again, loosers.
- Harry Markowski.
- Roullott.
- Nice to meet you.
- I hope so.
Thomson, what do you think about Schopenhauer?
Schopenhauer.
Thomson, what do you think about Schopenhauer?
Schopenhauer
- it is a philosophy of pessimism.
- Excuse me.
Excuse me. Excusez-moi.
Are you from Poland?
No,
I’m from Japan.
Don’t you come from France?
No, from China.
Why do you answer me so stupidly,
I just want to ask.
My answer is similar to yours.
Excuse me.
Excusez-moi.
I’ve heard that you and Thomson
have had an interesting discussion
about Schopenhauer.
Yes.
- I am very glad that in our group…
- Excuse me.
…there is one more man who…
Schopenhauer.
We, Poles do not accept the philosophy of pessimism.
Poles.
You are really a Pole.
People talk a lot about Poland
and I still don’t know anything about it.
Soon more than the world can imagine
will be said about this country.
I’ve always wanted to meet a real Pole.
Why?
Nothing good happens to those,
who get to know Poland and Poles.
It is weird what you say.
This is how I imagined a Pole should speak.
Could you help me to get to know Poland?
It doesn’t make sense,
but if you really want to, I can promise it to you.
Would you keep the promise?
Poles always keep their promises.
Poles always keep their promises.
How beautiful is that?
See you tomorrow.
I was pretending
that I am a Polish patriot in exile.
Like I was taken from a book by a casual French writer,
who writes about Poland,
but he is not sure, whether it is the same as Bulgaria.
Mac!
I am wondering
why do Poles like to drink alcohol so much?
Who knows, maybe this nation,
which is unable to stay sober
and look at things clearly,
wants to find sobriety
in insobriety.
By the way, it must be hard for them
that this is mentioned in proverbs
representing their national characteristics.
‘Drunk as a Pole.’
It’s funny
how false information is spread
between the countries that take care
only about themselves.
If a Frenchmen,
who dissolves every day
in one liter of wine
claims that someone else is a drunkard,
I will call it stupidity or insolence.
I guess that you are trying to say,
that the English and the French are drunkards.
Yes.
As far as France is concerned,
I leave it to my colleague, the poet.
But as far as England is concerned,
I have to deny it.
I can even prove that reality is
totally different.
- In the 7th century…
- Mac, I wouldn’t go so far…
It’s hard to deny that many bottles
of whisky and porter
are being opened in our country every day.
No, no, no, it’s unbelievable.
Really unbelievable.
This Polish proud mixed with incompetence
is really extraordinary.
They are so self-absorbed.
They are convinced that they are different
than other people in the world.
- But they…
- Gentlemen! Gentlemen!
You are the last. Again.
I am sorry.
I don’t find it easy
to pass next to Suzanne,
because it is hard
to have the same face expression every day.
Are you mad?
I speak your native language,
aren't you Chinese?
Who is that girl?
Why do you want more?
Do you want to try all of them?
Leave something for us.
Do you want to start a harem?
Should I provide you with 70 governesses
for your birthday?
Don't tell him about Janka.
A letter to you.
Who is that Janka?
Miss Janka.
She comes from Cracow.
She attended music school
and her mother married an Englishmen.
A big portion for me.
Firstly, you should ask for it.
Secondly, you will get at most,
as much as others.
This is not a restaurant.
Firstly, no one should tell me
how should I express myself.
Secondly, what does at most mean?
You are harassing me,
I will complain to Saalmeister.
You are free to do so. I won’t be surprised.
From the beginning I thought that you are a spy.
These are three great poets, Suzanne.
My grandfather took these books with him,
when he fled to France after the fall
of the January Uprising.
My uncle took them for the war.
Now, my family from Poland
has sent me these books.
‘Never. Never can I
part from you.
You sail through the sea
and wander through the land with me.’
You wander with me.
‘…on my way.’
You follow me.
‘Go out of my sight,
I will listen to it.
Abandon my heart,
I will listen to it.
Go out of my memory.
No, mine and yours mind
won’t listen
to this.’
Mine and yours mind won’t listen to it.
‘Oh, mother Poland…’
‘Oh mother Poland!’
When your son
has wisdom
in his eyes,
When your son has Polish pride
and nobility written all over his face.
The only thing that would be left for a victorious man
will be some dry woods of a gallows.
His glory
will be rewarded with woman’s tears
and long talks of his compatriots.’
I don’t know what happened here,
but I understand you.
I understand.
Jesus!
It all came up really well,
although it was not planned.
I am mad at Mickiewicz
that he interrupted my date.
These are the three poets, Suzanne.
The Holy Trinity patronizing
the most sublime among...
Do you know what does ‘Polish’ mean?
You cannot know.
Being Polish is something which never existed.
It was invented to prevent Polish people
from getting mad.
Unfortunately, this noble intention turned out
to be quite the opposite of what was expected.
Thus, the three poets and their patron
can serve the most sublime cases,
but they also can serve
the most petty, egocentric ones.
It is a shame for such a young man like you
to stick in this place.
Especially now, when a lot of things
should be done in the world.
It is my bad luck.
Bad luck, bad luck!
Losers always claim that it is bad luck!
Bad luck is nothing else
than a cover-up
of one’s incapability of doing things.
How would people see me,
if I complained of bad luck?
None of my businesses would work out.
If something goes wrong, you have to
keep trying until you succeed.
Fine.
But you also are here.
How can you tell it to me?
You are partially right.
I am here due to my mistake,
but I won’t be here for long.
The world waits for me.
And now in the world…
Suzanne!
You have been with me for the entire time.
You were telling me stories about Poland.
I saw it. Behind those mountains,
those lakes.
I love you.
Is it a brothel or a camp for internees?
Now, you’ll face the music!
You are under arrest!
Why?
A Frenchman or an Englishman?
An Englishman.
Germany is the real power.
Three weeks to counquer Poland
and six to conquer France.
No one can defeat us.
This must be the most important
order in the barracks.
When you meet a foreigner,
tell him:
’Germany is a power. Poland was conquered in 3 weeks,
France in 6 weeks.
No one can defeat us.’
I’m just saying.
I don’t really care.
War is a terrible thing.
It is good for those people, who live
in comfortable palaces and give orders.
I am tired of it.
I’m a photographer, I just want to go back home.
I don’t really care who will rule this world.
They should leave normal people alone.
I just want to go back home.
I’ve got a wife, a child.
The only advantage is the fact
that when I’ll get to the camp,
I will tell them that Max Pfitzner, a police officer,
is an opponent of the regime
and everyone will be convinced
that the war can and in an hour.
I am sure she wants the ceiling
to collapse and hurt me.
She could be the first…
Thank you.
…to help a wounded enemy.
Gentlemen, I want to go to the jail.
- A Frenchman or an Englishman?
- A Frenchman.
Germany is a power.
Poland conquered in three weeks,
France in six.
- No one can defeat you.
- What?
- No one can defeat you.
- Oh, yes yes.
No one can defeat us.
Show me a photo of your wife and child.
March!
Suzanne! I am completely different
then you imagine.
You don’t know who I really am.
Suzanne,
think about the worst thoughts
you could have about someone.
Think about it and look at me
in a way I deserve to be looked at.
I thought.
And what?
A button.
What kind of button?
A Polish one.
If she showed me an entire Polish soldier,
I would be moved.
But a button?
Oh, Suzanne.
You should behave properly
in a camp for internees.
This is neither Planty park nor Ujazdow Avenue.
I’ll go to a lieutenant.
He’ll tell you how should a son
of a conquered nation behave.
She’ll cry because of you.
I’d like to warn her.
And I’ll do it.
Suzanne.
Who’s that girl?
She is a girl from Cracow.
Something is wrong with her head,
but there is nothing to worry about.
Let her suffer because of
understanding things that she doesn’t understand.
I feel sorry for you Suzanne. I guess that your mother taught
you to do so and you can only live that way.
Colleagues!
What are you doing?
Listen!
- Every day we can see
- A Polish soldier by our windows!
- Nonsense!
- Nonsense? Nonsense?
If you had gotten up earlier,
you would have seen him.
A Polish soldier taken prisoner by the Germans.
It’s true. When I got up earlier to go
to the bathroom, I saw a soldier.
He was big and healthy.
A typical Polish man.
Oh shit.
It’s your fault.
How big were our men in Podolia.
Those little men from the German army would look like
a miniature pinscher in front of an elephant next to them.
A big, heavy guy.
I talked to him, he was passing
next to our building.
His name is Jasiek Paluch.
He comes from Nadarzyn. He fought very bravely
and was defeated in Lodz.
And he was buried there.
Defeated? How?
Defeated. He was defeated.
Defeated?
He was taken prisoner.
Why have you got up so early?
Because I want to wish you
all the best.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Oh, you are first.
Suzanne!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you.
Merry Christmas!
Why do you read Schopenhauer?
We, Poles, we hate the philosophy
of pessimism.
I wished you merry Christmas,
but you haven’t answered.
I have always claimed that people from Cracow
are not able to behave properly.
This time, it’s your loss,
because I was going to tell you something
that you could find interesting.
Now, you won’t get your Christmas gift.
I don’t want to meet Suzanne today,
because I haven’t came up
with a new face expression for her.
Meatloaf, yeah, I would like to eat some meatloaf.
Yes, indeed. I’d love to eat some meatloaf.
Some melon?
A melon?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
What did you wanted to say?
Oh, melons!
What do you know about melons…
At our place…
In Podolia, melons were extremely huge.
You could feed the entire German army
with one melon.
Sir, in Vilnius region, one kilogram
of tomatoes cost minus seventeen groszy
before the war.
Such a beautiful phenomenon!
Silence!
Silence!
Merry Christmas
and other victories in the New Year.
To you too!
Leave it.
I am sorry Suzanne,
I was wrong.
I don’t want to let you down,
I don’t want to mislead you.
So I think that the best solution for us
will be to stop seeing each other.
You are still here.
It’s a shame. It’s a shame.
Mr. Markowski, maybe we could,
you know…
Escape? No, sir.
I am aware of the fact that you are a clumsy person,
but I see that you are also an incorrigible romantic.
I’ll leave this place in a similar way
that I’ve entered it.
And it will happen soon.
Mr. Klaus!
I can see by your eyes that you despise me.
You notice my connections
and you are wondering why
I haven’t become a Volksdeutsch.
Isn’t it?
Well, not only because it would be stupid and short-sighted.
Yes, I am capable of all kinds of dirty things,
but there are two sides and you have
to choose one and stay there.
The border between those sides
must not be crossed.
Soon it will turn out that I am necessary
to work in arms industry.
Will it happen?
Yes.
I will leave this place and do some
business with the Germans.
I’ll earn a lot of money and in the same time
I’ll sell the worst duds
that exist in the Third Reich
to these idiots.
In the same time, every time I’ll make a scam,
at least one German will be shot.
Thus in the same time I’ll fight
for the allied forces.
Isn't it more noble than murdering
enemies with your own hands?
You’ll see. I’ll receive a Virtuti,
- a lifetime pension and you…
- I’ll sit and waste my time here.
Suzanne?
I have cried. Now it’s time to act!
Oh god!
Are you a Pole?
Virgin Mary has saved you.
Probably the one of Czestochowa.
I’m sure that it was the one from
the Gate of Dawn.
Once who rested your mother under yours ...
I’ll tell you the other time.
I prefer the one of Czestochowa.
And I prefer the one of the Gate of Dawn.
Merde!
Leave him, he is not a German. He is one of us.
He is a Frenchman.
How do you know it?
Virgin Mary saves us
and nothing can save them.
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
I don’t think that it’s safe
to enter the town now.
People don’t know us,
they can hand us over to the border guards.
You are right.
We’ll set off at dawn.
Yes.
Yes.
Meanwhile the war broke out
and I was taken prisoner.
Where are you from?
The area of Warsaw, Sir.
My name is Jasiek Paluch.
I fought in Lodz but…
the troop surrendered
and I was taken prisoner.
Jasiek.
- Do you want to fight for Poland?
- Sure.
That’s why you escape.
Surname?
Jean Ledoix, as a civilian it’s Chopin.
They took me prisoner in the Vosges Mountains.
Stand at attention!
Your button is not fastened.
I report that I don't have it at all.
I’ve given it to one of French girls
as a gift.
The uniform is owned by the state
and no part of should be turned into a gift.
You’ve done it because of a patriotic reason,
so I forgive you.
Hey, do you know what?
We will create a Polish-French legion.
We will fight to save the Polish body
and the French spirit.
I will be your leader.
I will walk ahead of you, carrying a white
and red banner
with a rooster embroidered on a tricolor field.
The two of you will save the world
under my leadership.
Yes, commander!
Yes!
Now go to sleep.
Go to sleep and sleep well,
because tomorrow we are starting our mission.
I’ll go, I’ll call people, wake them up…
Fight, those of you who believe in god!
Merde!
Where can I go?
Who will listen to me?
Am I supposed to be the leader of nations?
I will lead the nations somewhere
while the letters will be waiting for me
in my school building.
Letters from my friends and family.
I want to go to Bracka street,
I want to go to Bracka street!
I want to cross this street again.
I am not suppose to wander
and be the leader of nations.
What about Suzanne?
Suzanne!
My dear Suzanne!
Maybe I should hang myself.
‘Boor, you’ve had a golden horn,
you’ve had a hat…’
Finally, you’ve woke up.
I’ve been trying to wake you up for 30 minutes.
You don’t know what happened last night.
Three sailors tried to escape,
but they were caught in the lake.
There is no other way to get to Switzerland,
than to swim 10 kilometers through the lake.
Motor boats wait there
for such loosers.
Now they will be in jail for three weeks.
It is impossible to escape to Switzerland
from this place. That’s why they do
not really watch us.
Hello, adieu my love.
You are late for breakfast, again.
But I have a surprise for you.
‘Boor, you’ve had
a golden horn,
you’ve had
a hat with weathers.’
We cannot escape from this place.
Poor Suzanne has been waiting all day
for her beloved to come to her.’
She was counting minutes…
- …one after another…
- Give it back!
Suzanne’s grief saves rooms…
Stop it!
Go on! Go on!
Finally, something interesting.
Doctor!
Doctor!
Doctor!
Thank you.
She has been waiting all day,
poor Suzanne,
for her beloved one to come to her.
You are a pretentious, self-focused person
and you are a little crazy.
Besides, you are quite nice.
I have to warn you
that if you want to flirt with me
just because you got bored
with your French girl,
then you are wrong
if you think that it will work out.
Now tell me what you want to tell
and if you don’t want to tell me anything,
then don’t bother me.
What are you trying to say?
How can you…
It never crossed my mind.
Fine.
I will tell you
what I want to tell.
There is a piano in this place.
What?
In the chapel.
Nonsense.
You touched me, I cannot hide it.
Your timing is really bad.
You don’t know when you can fool around.
It is impossible to communicate with you.
You are a mean man,
you know nothing about me.
Go out of my memory.
No, mine and yours mind
won’t listen
to this.
Mine and yours mind
won’t listen to this.
She wasn’t suffering for me.
She was suffering for our poets.
Oh Suzanne!
No! No! I cannot stand it any longer!
- What happened?
- Jesus, we’ll get mad.
I am about to get mad or crazy.
It is all about it,
that I can stand different things
which are seen as unbearable.
I’ve always been like that.
Others cannot stand them, so they don’t do it.
I can bear everything, so I have to suffer.
I’ve had too short sheet for the entire week.
Take a look.
My feet touch the mattress,
straw scratches my feet.
I want to be like others, find some things unbearable.
Mr. Pociejak,
pull the sheet in such a way
that the short part
will be under the pillow.
I don’t want to.
I want it to scratch my feet.
It is similar to love.
You are lying under a warm duvet
in a cold room and you find it pleasing.
You are not really aware of the fact that
you are pleased,
but try to pull your feet from under the duvet.
You will understand how happy you were.
I don’t understand it.
It is like smoking cigarettes.
Smoking is not really pleasing,
but the lack of cigarettes bothers you.
Lack of cigarettes? What are you saying?
Does it have something in common with love?
It’s simple. Love is not happiness,
but the lack of love…
is suffering.
Yes.
Love affects us in a negative way.
Now I understand it.
You should say it right away,
instead of telling stories about feet, cigarettes.
What’s even worse,
this foot cannot be taken
under the duvet again.
I eat a lot of food here
and my colleagues are now fighting with the Germans.
You seem to be an intelligent man.
If an intelligent man
wants to shoot to others or
to be shot at,
I think that he lies or is blinded
by military songs.
Only boors are courageous and fight.
A cultural man doesn’t enjoy it.
Mr. Markowski.
What about Poland, victory?
You are also a Pole.
I am also a man.
I’ve become an Englishman, because I found it easier.
I will become French or Chinese if needed.
This is all nonsense.
But how to become Chinese?
Oh! You are the last, again.
Harry!
Didn't I tell you I'd get out of here?
I’ve got a referral for a job.
Yes, I see.
The arms industry.
Harry. Let’s go to the classroom.
See you out there!
Don’t be a loser!
Oh Suzanne
Oh Suzanne!!!
Why are you so sad?
You look like a boy who has got a bad grade
and he’s afraid to admit it.
Yes. A boy.
A boy.
Your behaviour forces other people
to be childish.
There is no other way to talk to you
than to act like an immature, childish person.
You are a schoolgirl and you make
people to act like children too.
This place is boring, isn’t it?
There’s no one to talk to.
Yeah.
I think,
that we could talk sometimes.
Why not?
I like talking to intelligent people.
Do you have cigarettes?
Yes, please.
No, I want you to give me one.
Here you are.
Do you think that I accept gifts so easily?
Some girls are like that, it’s true.
When they notice a guy,
they try to check his wallet.
I come from a good family.
It’s stupid.
We are locked up here, so we can share
what we own.
No, I suppose that you don’t have them neither.
I won’t smoke your cigarettes.
I do have cigarettes. I’ve just received a box. Please.
Fine, I’ll take them.
But you had to try for a while, right?
Give a cigarette and a match.
- Maybe we’ll go for a walk?
- Fine.
Let’s go to the first floor.
Why there?
To make fun.
We can go to the second floor if you prefer.
No, first floor is fine.
If we want to make it funny,
let’s go to the first floor.
It is like a date on the street.
You dirty bastards!
Your hands are cold.
Maybe you could warm them…
My lips are cold too.
I understand!
- but it seems to me…
- What?
What seems to be so interesting?
- My little boy wanted…
- I think that…
Do you see it? You’ve got upset.
…if we look at it…
…from a different perspective…
Oh God!
What a beautiful phenomenon!
Hey!
You old man, don’t block the sun.
Who are you, you beautiful lady?
Renee Bleist from Strasbourg.
A taxi dancer from the Erika dancing club.
Really?
I thought that you are a nymph,
who descended to the earth
to introduce some beauty here.
What do you want? Again.
Again? Nothing happened,
but it will happen, it will…
I would like you to give yourself to me
in front of this stupid man who observes us
and Krupski brothers.
Now!
What day is it today?
Tuesday.
I am not giving myself to others on Tuesdays.
Come.
Halt!
I will leave this place.
And I will rot in here.
Harry! How was it in Switzerland?
Renee!
I’m dying.
He’s dying.
Guys!
He’s dying!
He died.
Dominus vobiscum.
Et cum spiritu tuo.
Give it back!
Come back here!
Renee! Don’t walk away, I beg you.
Don’t go.
Could you be the first to give a lecture
titled ‘Me and my nation’?
So that's it.
So, it’s a trap.
You intellectuals, psychologists
want to rip my skin off because of boredom
and because you want to see what’s inside!
Not because of boredom.
You are worried that I may be hiding something.
Sometimes I date with ladies,
sometimes I speak about Schopenhauer.
I speak, I speak.
I had heard what other people said,
so I repeated it, but I don’t understand it.
No, dear friend…
It seems to you that I hide something.
You would like this tasty bit
to be laid at your intellectual table.
It won’t work.
No, no, no.
This is called the lambeth walk,
one big step and one jump.
There are so many people in this world,
what is a child and what is a corpse.
I’ll make you a surprise.
Bravo!
Bravo, Renee!
Higher, higher!
What a girl!
Bravo!
Renee!
Renee!
Bravo, Roullot!
Renee!
Roullot! Get out of there!
Don’t be silly!
Goodbye!
Oh my God! Watch out!
No!
I really liked him,
but I was unable to show it to him.
What is going to happen now? Are…
Folks!
Gentlemen!
Friends!
Dear priest!
Thomson!
Mac, Mac!
Krupski brothers!
Wildermayer!
Vilbert!
Vilbert!
Harry!
Harry!
Gentlemen!
Let’s have some fun!
You French, English,
me – a Pole,
I drink a toast to you!
Gentlemen!
Let us love one another!
Here’s me, an unworthy sinner
who confesses in front of Your Majesty,
that I have sinned in thought, word…
What would you say, a German,
when a Pole teaches the English how to dance Oberek.
March!
Yes, sir!
Guys!
Let’s have fun!
And jump around, around!
Suzanne!
You came, Suzanne.
I’ve been thinking about you all my life.
I was doing everything to…
to find you
and explain myself.
After all these years, do you think it
could make a difference?
Yes.
Let’s leave it.
I am happy that I met someone
from the times when I was young…
and stupid. So stupid…
I think that we can have fun tonight.
Of course.
Schopenhauer.
We Poles,
we don’t accept the philosophy of pessimism.
The Poles.
I’ve always wanted to meet a real Pole.
People talk a lot about Poland
and I still don’t know anything about it.
You remember it.
Yeah.
I am also surprised.
I came to you
- and you said…
- I love you.
Repeat it.
- Please!
- I won’t.
I’m sorry.
What was next?
If, ladies and gentlemen, we had a pre-war
political map of Europe in front of us,
which is not possible, because I have not found
a suitable excuse
to explain the necessity to look at political Europe
in the field of timber construction in Małopolska.
If we take a look at the map of Europe,
if we direct our eyes to the East,
we would notice the country
which borders have distinguishable shape.
It looks like a heart.
It can also be compared to a man
who opens his arms.
Yeah,
he opens his arms that are
nailed to the cross.
Is life all about
being comfortable in Western Europe?
Or is life about
being nailed to the cross?
You, politicians,
politics are rotten.
Yes, gentlemen.
Take it into consideration
that there is a nation for which
white is white and black is black.
No one is able to convince this nation
that things can be different.
This nation is unable to be political,
because it would be forced to tell
that black is white and white is black.
Those people can’t do it.
When they see what you’re doing
in your comfortable position,
they consider being nailed to the cross
as the only solution
to make things even.
Because of your sins
this nation has to suffer.
Because of you it is nailed to the cross.
Will you give this nation something more
than a Pharisee’s smile of compassion
or rather contempt?
Does this crucifixion mean something
more to you,
or is it just another opportunity
for you to be used in your politics?
Oh, ladies and gentlemen…
Oh…
The day of resurrection has to come.
The day in which you’ll understand
that this nation was crucified for you.
It was not for your borders, comfortable positions.
This crucifixion took place for your soul,
for the meaning of life that you’ve lost.
Then, you’ll start to love your redeemer.
It won’t be for the army or for the economic power,
but for the brightness of spirit.
I’ve read everything
in those books.
People!
Winkelried is alive.
Redemption, redemption.
It cannot be denied
that this redeemer also has flaws.
Polish people are a little bit
too careless and reckless,
as far as the crucified nation is concerned.
It may be funny, but it’s not wise.
Sometimes it puts us into trouble.
Polish people like to argue with each other,
but the worst thing is that they don’t
really know the reason.
A Pole will think about it
and before he understands what he thought,
he thinks that he is the only person who is right.
Then, he wants to argue with other people
who have different points of view.
The roads are too muddy
and a peasant who drives a carriage
can fall down and hurt his head.
The houses are not finished because
the builder got drunk
and an architect ran away with
the entrepreneur’s wife.
And a bank is closed because there was a robbery
and a post office is closed because
a clerk eats breakfast.
A train hasn’t arrived because
the stoker and a train driver had a fight
and a stoker got out of the train.
An anthem should be played during
the international football match,
but the guest’s anthem couldn’t be played
because the orchestra lost the notes.
Then the match couldn’t start,
because someone have stolen the ball
and we had to wait for the new one.
Then it was too dark
for the match to be finished.
So they go through the streets,
but they don’t know why.
Stop one of them and ask
where he’s going.
He’ll be surprised and unable to answer.
He just went out to look at window displays,
to look around the city,
maybe something will happen.
And a police officer begs:
‘Do not cross the street crosswise.’
They cross the street crosswise.
So the police officer shouts:
‘Do not cross the street crosswise,
for God’s sake. Do I have to treat you like cattle?’
They still cross the street crosswise.
So he tells them to pay tickets
and they still cross the street crosswise.
They don’t do it to make him angry…
they just got used to it and they tend to forget.
Jagus goes through the forest,
she carries a jug full of raspberries.
Oh, hey! My fate,
fate,
fate.
Oh…
my fate…
my fate…
What do I mean?
What I’ve already said
is what I would say to myself.
And Jesus
hangs on a cross.
Jesus hangs on a cross
with his arms open
and he embraces Poland.
The entire Poland.
The shadow of the cross falls on the countryside,
fields, meadows and forests.
It falls on the town and the city,
on the muddy road.
The road on which the peasant
drives his carriage.
Yeah,
yeah,
ladies and gentlemen.
I don’t know what more should I say.
I am not willing to say anything more,
because it’s not worth it.
Why should you care?
Are you going to give your
comfortable positions up,
because someone suffers on the cross?
It’s enough. Let’s get out of here.
Suzanne!
Suzanne!
Meanwhile the work broke out
and I was taken prisoner.
AND THE POLISH TELEVISION PRESENT A FILM
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Meanwhile the war broke out
and I was taken a prisoner
in a German school,
just a few steps away from the Swiss border.
So this terrible dream that hunts
every man became real.
Go back to school,
because you are not mature enough.
Yeah, I got kicked out of a Polish lesson,
I have to do a terrible German language assignment,
I will have to retake history
and I have done
all of the calculations incorrectly at maths.
I have to start them again,
so I decided to write this diary.
Konstanz, September 1940.
The internment camp.
The most extraordinary group of people
from all over Europe.
Partially English, partially French, partially Polish.
Stateless people, without passports.
They wanted to exchange us for
Germans interned in France and England,
so they took whoever they could.
These two groups are 70 French governesses from Warsaw,
and here are English sailors taken
from a merchant ship near Norway.
Now we are going to our people,
from our class.
All of them have been brought from Warsaw.
This is a Pole with a French citizenship.
MacKinley, he used to be a lecturer in Warsaw.
He dreams of the brotherhood of nations
within the British Empire.
Vilbert, a poet. He wanted to see the homeland
of Mickiewicz and Slowacki.
He came to Poland on the 31st of August 1939.
Mister Thomson,
everyone like him, because he speaks
once every few days.
Krupski brothers, monsters.
Their own mother denounced
them as French
and she joined a monastery.
Wildermayer, an Alsatian.
He spent his entire life in Podole,
he has never been in Alsatia.
Hello!
Let’s take a seat.
Mr. Pociejak,
a Varsovian with a long tradition.
He found out that he had English citizenship
when the Germans came to intern him.
Father Cleont,
after the defeat he has started
to believe that God doesn’t exist.
You mean the Polish defeat.
No, he meant the panicky flight of the French.
Gentlemen,
we don’t have to worry about
any temporary defeats
as long as there is understanding
and harmony between the Allies.
John Smith,
Garry Carpenter,
Nick Meising,
Robert Davis.
Who she is?
Suzanne,
milk with honey, fresh bread with butter,
coffee with cream.
And you have to eat this moldy wholemeal bread
and drink this black, stinking liquid.
Ah, whatever.
As a matter of fact, they don’t give
us the best food here.
In our Podolia region, so many cattle were killed,
that it would be enough to feed the entire
German division for one month.
People! Switzerland declared war on Germany!
Sailors, let’s burn this place!
Oh shit!
What have you done?
An alarm!
Did you hear those shots?
It is the Swiss artillery trying to shoot
at the barracks next to us.
I knew this in the morning,
but I didn't want to bother you.
Father, go to the shelter.
To the shelter, now!
They will kill us here,
for God’s sake!
This is all nonsense, gentlemen,
a railwayman shot a German policeman
who was having affair with his wife
on the border.
And what about the explosions?
These are just military exercises.
I fooled you again, loosers.
- Harry Markowski.
- Roullott.
- Nice to meet you.
- I hope so.
Thomson, what do you think about Schopenhauer?
Schopenhauer.
Thomson, what do you think about Schopenhauer?
Schopenhauer
- it is a philosophy of pessimism.
- Excuse me.
Excuse me. Excusez-moi.
Are you from Poland?
No,
I’m from Japan.
Don’t you come from France?
No, from China.
Why do you answer me so stupidly,
I just want to ask.
My answer is similar to yours.
Excuse me.
Excusez-moi.
I’ve heard that you and Thomson
have had an interesting discussion
about Schopenhauer.
Yes.
- I am very glad that in our group…
- Excuse me.
…there is one more man who…
Schopenhauer.
We, Poles do not accept the philosophy of pessimism.
Poles.
You are really a Pole.
People talk a lot about Poland
and I still don’t know anything about it.
Soon more than the world can imagine
will be said about this country.
I’ve always wanted to meet a real Pole.
Why?
Nothing good happens to those,
who get to know Poland and Poles.
It is weird what you say.
This is how I imagined a Pole should speak.
Could you help me to get to know Poland?
It doesn’t make sense,
but if you really want to, I can promise it to you.
Would you keep the promise?
Poles always keep their promises.
Poles always keep their promises.
How beautiful is that?
See you tomorrow.
I was pretending
that I am a Polish patriot in exile.
Like I was taken from a book by a casual French writer,
who writes about Poland,
but he is not sure, whether it is the same as Bulgaria.
Mac!
I am wondering
why do Poles like to drink alcohol so much?
Who knows, maybe this nation,
which is unable to stay sober
and look at things clearly,
wants to find sobriety
in insobriety.
By the way, it must be hard for them
that this is mentioned in proverbs
representing their national characteristics.
‘Drunk as a Pole.’
It’s funny
how false information is spread
between the countries that take care
only about themselves.
If a Frenchmen,
who dissolves every day
in one liter of wine
claims that someone else is a drunkard,
I will call it stupidity or insolence.
I guess that you are trying to say,
that the English and the French are drunkards.
Yes.
As far as France is concerned,
I leave it to my colleague, the poet.
But as far as England is concerned,
I have to deny it.
I can even prove that reality is
totally different.
- In the 7th century…
- Mac, I wouldn’t go so far…
It’s hard to deny that many bottles
of whisky and porter
are being opened in our country every day.
No, no, no, it’s unbelievable.
Really unbelievable.
This Polish proud mixed with incompetence
is really extraordinary.
They are so self-absorbed.
They are convinced that they are different
than other people in the world.
- But they…
- Gentlemen! Gentlemen!
You are the last. Again.
I am sorry.
I don’t find it easy
to pass next to Suzanne,
because it is hard
to have the same face expression every day.
Are you mad?
I speak your native language,
aren't you Chinese?
Who is that girl?
Why do you want more?
Do you want to try all of them?
Leave something for us.
Do you want to start a harem?
Should I provide you with 70 governesses
for your birthday?
Don't tell him about Janka.
A letter to you.
Who is that Janka?
Miss Janka.
She comes from Cracow.
She attended music school
and her mother married an Englishmen.
A big portion for me.
Firstly, you should ask for it.
Secondly, you will get at most,
as much as others.
This is not a restaurant.
Firstly, no one should tell me
how should I express myself.
Secondly, what does at most mean?
You are harassing me,
I will complain to Saalmeister.
You are free to do so. I won’t be surprised.
From the beginning I thought that you are a spy.
These are three great poets, Suzanne.
My grandfather took these books with him,
when he fled to France after the fall
of the January Uprising.
My uncle took them for the war.
Now, my family from Poland
has sent me these books.
‘Never. Never can I
part from you.
You sail through the sea
and wander through the land with me.’
You wander with me.
‘…on my way.’
You follow me.
‘Go out of my sight,
I will listen to it.
Abandon my heart,
I will listen to it.
Go out of my memory.
No, mine and yours mind
won’t listen
to this.’
Mine and yours mind won’t listen to it.
‘Oh, mother Poland…’
‘Oh mother Poland!’
When your son
has wisdom
in his eyes,
When your son has Polish pride
and nobility written all over his face.
The only thing that would be left for a victorious man
will be some dry woods of a gallows.
His glory
will be rewarded with woman’s tears
and long talks of his compatriots.’
I don’t know what happened here,
but I understand you.
I understand.
Jesus!
It all came up really well,
although it was not planned.
I am mad at Mickiewicz
that he interrupted my date.
These are the three poets, Suzanne.
The Holy Trinity patronizing
the most sublime among...
Do you know what does ‘Polish’ mean?
You cannot know.
Being Polish is something which never existed.
It was invented to prevent Polish people
from getting mad.
Unfortunately, this noble intention turned out
to be quite the opposite of what was expected.
Thus, the three poets and their patron
can serve the most sublime cases,
but they also can serve
the most petty, egocentric ones.
It is a shame for such a young man like you
to stick in this place.
Especially now, when a lot of things
should be done in the world.
It is my bad luck.
Bad luck, bad luck!
Losers always claim that it is bad luck!
Bad luck is nothing else
than a cover-up
of one’s incapability of doing things.
How would people see me,
if I complained of bad luck?
None of my businesses would work out.
If something goes wrong, you have to
keep trying until you succeed.
Fine.
But you also are here.
How can you tell it to me?
You are partially right.
I am here due to my mistake,
but I won’t be here for long.
The world waits for me.
And now in the world…
Suzanne!
You have been with me for the entire time.
You were telling me stories about Poland.
I saw it. Behind those mountains,
those lakes.
I love you.
Is it a brothel or a camp for internees?
Now, you’ll face the music!
You are under arrest!
Why?
A Frenchman or an Englishman?
An Englishman.
Germany is the real power.
Three weeks to counquer Poland
and six to conquer France.
No one can defeat us.
This must be the most important
order in the barracks.
When you meet a foreigner,
tell him:
’Germany is a power. Poland was conquered in 3 weeks,
France in 6 weeks.
No one can defeat us.’
I’m just saying.
I don’t really care.
War is a terrible thing.
It is good for those people, who live
in comfortable palaces and give orders.
I am tired of it.
I’m a photographer, I just want to go back home.
I don’t really care who will rule this world.
They should leave normal people alone.
I just want to go back home.
I’ve got a wife, a child.
The only advantage is the fact
that when I’ll get to the camp,
I will tell them that Max Pfitzner, a police officer,
is an opponent of the regime
and everyone will be convinced
that the war can and in an hour.
I am sure she wants the ceiling
to collapse and hurt me.
She could be the first…
Thank you.
…to help a wounded enemy.
Gentlemen, I want to go to the jail.
- A Frenchman or an Englishman?
- A Frenchman.
Germany is a power.
Poland conquered in three weeks,
France in six.
- No one can defeat you.
- What?
- No one can defeat you.
- Oh, yes yes.
No one can defeat us.
Show me a photo of your wife and child.
March!
Suzanne! I am completely different
then you imagine.
You don’t know who I really am.
Suzanne,
think about the worst thoughts
you could have about someone.
Think about it and look at me
in a way I deserve to be looked at.
I thought.
And what?
A button.
What kind of button?
A Polish one.
If she showed me an entire Polish soldier,
I would be moved.
But a button?
Oh, Suzanne.
You should behave properly
in a camp for internees.
This is neither Planty park nor Ujazdow Avenue.
I’ll go to a lieutenant.
He’ll tell you how should a son
of a conquered nation behave.
She’ll cry because of you.
I’d like to warn her.
And I’ll do it.
Suzanne.
Who’s that girl?
She is a girl from Cracow.
Something is wrong with her head,
but there is nothing to worry about.
Let her suffer because of
understanding things that she doesn’t understand.
I feel sorry for you Suzanne. I guess that your mother taught
you to do so and you can only live that way.
Colleagues!
What are you doing?
Listen!
- Every day we can see
- A Polish soldier by our windows!
- Nonsense!
- Nonsense? Nonsense?
If you had gotten up earlier,
you would have seen him.
A Polish soldier taken prisoner by the Germans.
It’s true. When I got up earlier to go
to the bathroom, I saw a soldier.
He was big and healthy.
A typical Polish man.
Oh shit.
It’s your fault.
How big were our men in Podolia.
Those little men from the German army would look like
a miniature pinscher in front of an elephant next to them.
A big, heavy guy.
I talked to him, he was passing
next to our building.
His name is Jasiek Paluch.
He comes from Nadarzyn. He fought very bravely
and was defeated in Lodz.
And he was buried there.
Defeated? How?
Defeated. He was defeated.
Defeated?
He was taken prisoner.
Why have you got up so early?
Because I want to wish you
all the best.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Oh, you are first.
Suzanne!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you.
Merry Christmas!
Why do you read Schopenhauer?
We, Poles, we hate the philosophy
of pessimism.
I wished you merry Christmas,
but you haven’t answered.
I have always claimed that people from Cracow
are not able to behave properly.
This time, it’s your loss,
because I was going to tell you something
that you could find interesting.
Now, you won’t get your Christmas gift.
I don’t want to meet Suzanne today,
because I haven’t came up
with a new face expression for her.
Meatloaf, yeah, I would like to eat some meatloaf.
Yes, indeed. I’d love to eat some meatloaf.
Some melon?
A melon?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
What did you wanted to say?
Oh, melons!
What do you know about melons…
At our place…
In Podolia, melons were extremely huge.
You could feed the entire German army
with one melon.
Sir, in Vilnius region, one kilogram
of tomatoes cost minus seventeen groszy
before the war.
Such a beautiful phenomenon!
Silence!
Silence!
Merry Christmas
and other victories in the New Year.
To you too!
Leave it.
I am sorry Suzanne,
I was wrong.
I don’t want to let you down,
I don’t want to mislead you.
So I think that the best solution for us
will be to stop seeing each other.
You are still here.
It’s a shame. It’s a shame.
Mr. Markowski, maybe we could,
you know…
Escape? No, sir.
I am aware of the fact that you are a clumsy person,
but I see that you are also an incorrigible romantic.
I’ll leave this place in a similar way
that I’ve entered it.
And it will happen soon.
Mr. Klaus!
I can see by your eyes that you despise me.
You notice my connections
and you are wondering why
I haven’t become a Volksdeutsch.
Isn’t it?
Well, not only because it would be stupid and short-sighted.
Yes, I am capable of all kinds of dirty things,
but there are two sides and you have
to choose one and stay there.
The border between those sides
must not be crossed.
Soon it will turn out that I am necessary
to work in arms industry.
Will it happen?
Yes.
I will leave this place and do some
business with the Germans.
I’ll earn a lot of money and in the same time
I’ll sell the worst duds
that exist in the Third Reich
to these idiots.
In the same time, every time I’ll make a scam,
at least one German will be shot.
Thus in the same time I’ll fight
for the allied forces.
Isn't it more noble than murdering
enemies with your own hands?
You’ll see. I’ll receive a Virtuti,
- a lifetime pension and you…
- I’ll sit and waste my time here.
Suzanne?
I have cried. Now it’s time to act!
Oh god!
Are you a Pole?
Virgin Mary has saved you.
Probably the one of Czestochowa.
I’m sure that it was the one from
the Gate of Dawn.
Once who rested your mother under yours ...
I’ll tell you the other time.
I prefer the one of Czestochowa.
And I prefer the one of the Gate of Dawn.
Merde!
Leave him, he is not a German. He is one of us.
He is a Frenchman.
How do you know it?
Virgin Mary saves us
and nothing can save them.
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
Switzerland.
I don’t think that it’s safe
to enter the town now.
People don’t know us,
they can hand us over to the border guards.
You are right.
We’ll set off at dawn.
Yes.
Yes.
Meanwhile the war broke out
and I was taken prisoner.
Where are you from?
The area of Warsaw, Sir.
My name is Jasiek Paluch.
I fought in Lodz but…
the troop surrendered
and I was taken prisoner.
Jasiek.
- Do you want to fight for Poland?
- Sure.
That’s why you escape.
Surname?
Jean Ledoix, as a civilian it’s Chopin.
They took me prisoner in the Vosges Mountains.
Stand at attention!
Your button is not fastened.
I report that I don't have it at all.
I’ve given it to one of French girls
as a gift.
The uniform is owned by the state
and no part of should be turned into a gift.
You’ve done it because of a patriotic reason,
so I forgive you.
Hey, do you know what?
We will create a Polish-French legion.
We will fight to save the Polish body
and the French spirit.
I will be your leader.
I will walk ahead of you, carrying a white
and red banner
with a rooster embroidered on a tricolor field.
The two of you will save the world
under my leadership.
Yes, commander!
Yes!
Now go to sleep.
Go to sleep and sleep well,
because tomorrow we are starting our mission.
I’ll go, I’ll call people, wake them up…
Fight, those of you who believe in god!
Merde!
Where can I go?
Who will listen to me?
Am I supposed to be the leader of nations?
I will lead the nations somewhere
while the letters will be waiting for me
in my school building.
Letters from my friends and family.
I want to go to Bracka street,
I want to go to Bracka street!
I want to cross this street again.
I am not suppose to wander
and be the leader of nations.
What about Suzanne?
Suzanne!
My dear Suzanne!
Maybe I should hang myself.
‘Boor, you’ve had a golden horn,
you’ve had a hat…’
Finally, you’ve woke up.
I’ve been trying to wake you up for 30 minutes.
You don’t know what happened last night.
Three sailors tried to escape,
but they were caught in the lake.
There is no other way to get to Switzerland,
than to swim 10 kilometers through the lake.
Motor boats wait there
for such loosers.
Now they will be in jail for three weeks.
It is impossible to escape to Switzerland
from this place. That’s why they do
not really watch us.
Hello, adieu my love.
You are late for breakfast, again.
But I have a surprise for you.
‘Boor, you’ve had
a golden horn,
you’ve had
a hat with weathers.’
We cannot escape from this place.
Poor Suzanne has been waiting all day
for her beloved to come to her.’
She was counting minutes…
- …one after another…
- Give it back!
Suzanne’s grief saves rooms…
Stop it!
Go on! Go on!
Finally, something interesting.
Doctor!
Doctor!
Doctor!
Thank you.
She has been waiting all day,
poor Suzanne,
for her beloved one to come to her.
You are a pretentious, self-focused person
and you are a little crazy.
Besides, you are quite nice.
I have to warn you
that if you want to flirt with me
just because you got bored
with your French girl,
then you are wrong
if you think that it will work out.
Now tell me what you want to tell
and if you don’t want to tell me anything,
then don’t bother me.
What are you trying to say?
How can you…
It never crossed my mind.
Fine.
I will tell you
what I want to tell.
There is a piano in this place.
What?
In the chapel.
Nonsense.
You touched me, I cannot hide it.
Your timing is really bad.
You don’t know when you can fool around.
It is impossible to communicate with you.
You are a mean man,
you know nothing about me.
Go out of my memory.
No, mine and yours mind
won’t listen
to this.
Mine and yours mind
won’t listen to this.
She wasn’t suffering for me.
She was suffering for our poets.
Oh Suzanne!
No! No! I cannot stand it any longer!
- What happened?
- Jesus, we’ll get mad.
I am about to get mad or crazy.
It is all about it,
that I can stand different things
which are seen as unbearable.
I’ve always been like that.
Others cannot stand them, so they don’t do it.
I can bear everything, so I have to suffer.
I’ve had too short sheet for the entire week.
Take a look.
My feet touch the mattress,
straw scratches my feet.
I want to be like others, find some things unbearable.
Mr. Pociejak,
pull the sheet in such a way
that the short part
will be under the pillow.
I don’t want to.
I want it to scratch my feet.
It is similar to love.
You are lying under a warm duvet
in a cold room and you find it pleasing.
You are not really aware of the fact that
you are pleased,
but try to pull your feet from under the duvet.
You will understand how happy you were.
I don’t understand it.
It is like smoking cigarettes.
Smoking is not really pleasing,
but the lack of cigarettes bothers you.
Lack of cigarettes? What are you saying?
Does it have something in common with love?
It’s simple. Love is not happiness,
but the lack of love…
is suffering.
Yes.
Love affects us in a negative way.
Now I understand it.
You should say it right away,
instead of telling stories about feet, cigarettes.
What’s even worse,
this foot cannot be taken
under the duvet again.
I eat a lot of food here
and my colleagues are now fighting with the Germans.
You seem to be an intelligent man.
If an intelligent man
wants to shoot to others or
to be shot at,
I think that he lies or is blinded
by military songs.
Only boors are courageous and fight.
A cultural man doesn’t enjoy it.
Mr. Markowski.
What about Poland, victory?
You are also a Pole.
I am also a man.
I’ve become an Englishman, because I found it easier.
I will become French or Chinese if needed.
This is all nonsense.
But how to become Chinese?
Oh! You are the last, again.
Harry!
Didn't I tell you I'd get out of here?
I’ve got a referral for a job.
Yes, I see.
The arms industry.
Harry. Let’s go to the classroom.
See you out there!
Don’t be a loser!
Oh Suzanne
Oh Suzanne!!!
Why are you so sad?
You look like a boy who has got a bad grade
and he’s afraid to admit it.
Yes. A boy.
A boy.
Your behaviour forces other people
to be childish.
There is no other way to talk to you
than to act like an immature, childish person.
You are a schoolgirl and you make
people to act like children too.
This place is boring, isn’t it?
There’s no one to talk to.
Yeah.
I think,
that we could talk sometimes.
Why not?
I like talking to intelligent people.
Do you have cigarettes?
Yes, please.
No, I want you to give me one.
Here you are.
Do you think that I accept gifts so easily?
Some girls are like that, it’s true.
When they notice a guy,
they try to check his wallet.
I come from a good family.
It’s stupid.
We are locked up here, so we can share
what we own.
No, I suppose that you don’t have them neither.
I won’t smoke your cigarettes.
I do have cigarettes. I’ve just received a box. Please.
Fine, I’ll take them.
But you had to try for a while, right?
Give a cigarette and a match.
- Maybe we’ll go for a walk?
- Fine.
Let’s go to the first floor.
Why there?
To make fun.
We can go to the second floor if you prefer.
No, first floor is fine.
If we want to make it funny,
let’s go to the first floor.
It is like a date on the street.
You dirty bastards!
Your hands are cold.
Maybe you could warm them…
My lips are cold too.
I understand!
- but it seems to me…
- What?
What seems to be so interesting?
- My little boy wanted…
- I think that…
Do you see it? You’ve got upset.
…if we look at it…
…from a different perspective…
Oh God!
What a beautiful phenomenon!
Hey!
You old man, don’t block the sun.
Who are you, you beautiful lady?
Renee Bleist from Strasbourg.
A taxi dancer from the Erika dancing club.
Really?
I thought that you are a nymph,
who descended to the earth
to introduce some beauty here.
What do you want? Again.
Again? Nothing happened,
but it will happen, it will…
I would like you to give yourself to me
in front of this stupid man who observes us
and Krupski brothers.
Now!
What day is it today?
Tuesday.
I am not giving myself to others on Tuesdays.
Come.
Halt!
I will leave this place.
And I will rot in here.
Harry! How was it in Switzerland?
Renee!
I’m dying.
He’s dying.
Guys!
He’s dying!
He died.
Dominus vobiscum.
Et cum spiritu tuo.
Give it back!
Come back here!
Renee! Don’t walk away, I beg you.
Don’t go.
Could you be the first to give a lecture
titled ‘Me and my nation’?
So that's it.
So, it’s a trap.
You intellectuals, psychologists
want to rip my skin off because of boredom
and because you want to see what’s inside!
Not because of boredom.
You are worried that I may be hiding something.
Sometimes I date with ladies,
sometimes I speak about Schopenhauer.
I speak, I speak.
I had heard what other people said,
so I repeated it, but I don’t understand it.
No, dear friend…
It seems to you that I hide something.
You would like this tasty bit
to be laid at your intellectual table.
It won’t work.
No, no, no.
This is called the lambeth walk,
one big step and one jump.
There are so many people in this world,
what is a child and what is a corpse.
I’ll make you a surprise.
Bravo!
Bravo, Renee!
Higher, higher!
What a girl!
Bravo!
Renee!
Renee!
Bravo, Roullot!
Renee!
Roullot! Get out of there!
Don’t be silly!
Goodbye!
Oh my God! Watch out!
No!
I really liked him,
but I was unable to show it to him.
What is going to happen now? Are…
Folks!
Gentlemen!
Friends!
Dear priest!
Thomson!
Mac, Mac!
Krupski brothers!
Wildermayer!
Vilbert!
Vilbert!
Harry!
Harry!
Gentlemen!
Let’s have some fun!
You French, English,
me – a Pole,
I drink a toast to you!
Gentlemen!
Let us love one another!
Here’s me, an unworthy sinner
who confesses in front of Your Majesty,
that I have sinned in thought, word…
What would you say, a German,
when a Pole teaches the English how to dance Oberek.
March!
Yes, sir!
Guys!
Let’s have fun!
And jump around, around!
Suzanne!
You came, Suzanne.
I’ve been thinking about you all my life.
I was doing everything to…
to find you
and explain myself.
After all these years, do you think it
could make a difference?
Yes.
Let’s leave it.
I am happy that I met someone
from the times when I was young…
and stupid. So stupid…
I think that we can have fun tonight.
Of course.
Schopenhauer.
We Poles,
we don’t accept the philosophy of pessimism.
The Poles.
I’ve always wanted to meet a real Pole.
People talk a lot about Poland
and I still don’t know anything about it.
You remember it.
Yeah.
I am also surprised.
I came to you
- and you said…
- I love you.
Repeat it.
- Please!
- I won’t.
I’m sorry.
What was next?
If, ladies and gentlemen, we had a pre-war
political map of Europe in front of us,
which is not possible, because I have not found
a suitable excuse
to explain the necessity to look at political Europe
in the field of timber construction in Małopolska.
If we take a look at the map of Europe,
if we direct our eyes to the East,
we would notice the country
which borders have distinguishable shape.
It looks like a heart.
It can also be compared to a man
who opens his arms.
Yeah,
he opens his arms that are
nailed to the cross.
Is life all about
being comfortable in Western Europe?
Or is life about
being nailed to the cross?
You, politicians,
politics are rotten.
Yes, gentlemen.
Take it into consideration
that there is a nation for which
white is white and black is black.
No one is able to convince this nation
that things can be different.
This nation is unable to be political,
because it would be forced to tell
that black is white and white is black.
Those people can’t do it.
When they see what you’re doing
in your comfortable position,
they consider being nailed to the cross
as the only solution
to make things even.
Because of your sins
this nation has to suffer.
Because of you it is nailed to the cross.
Will you give this nation something more
than a Pharisee’s smile of compassion
or rather contempt?
Does this crucifixion mean something
more to you,
or is it just another opportunity
for you to be used in your politics?
Oh, ladies and gentlemen…
Oh…
The day of resurrection has to come.
The day in which you’ll understand
that this nation was crucified for you.
It was not for your borders, comfortable positions.
This crucifixion took place for your soul,
for the meaning of life that you’ve lost.
Then, you’ll start to love your redeemer.
It won’t be for the army or for the economic power,
but for the brightness of spirit.
I’ve read everything
in those books.
People!
Winkelried is alive.
Redemption, redemption.
It cannot be denied
that this redeemer also has flaws.
Polish people are a little bit
too careless and reckless,
as far as the crucified nation is concerned.
It may be funny, but it’s not wise.
Sometimes it puts us into trouble.
Polish people like to argue with each other,
but the worst thing is that they don’t
really know the reason.
A Pole will think about it
and before he understands what he thought,
he thinks that he is the only person who is right.
Then, he wants to argue with other people
who have different points of view.
The roads are too muddy
and a peasant who drives a carriage
can fall down and hurt his head.
The houses are not finished because
the builder got drunk
and an architect ran away with
the entrepreneur’s wife.
And a bank is closed because there was a robbery
and a post office is closed because
a clerk eats breakfast.
A train hasn’t arrived because
the stoker and a train driver had a fight
and a stoker got out of the train.
An anthem should be played during
the international football match,
but the guest’s anthem couldn’t be played
because the orchestra lost the notes.
Then the match couldn’t start,
because someone have stolen the ball
and we had to wait for the new one.
Then it was too dark
for the match to be finished.
So they go through the streets,
but they don’t know why.
Stop one of them and ask
where he’s going.
He’ll be surprised and unable to answer.
He just went out to look at window displays,
to look around the city,
maybe something will happen.
And a police officer begs:
‘Do not cross the street crosswise.’
They cross the street crosswise.
So the police officer shouts:
‘Do not cross the street crosswise,
for God’s sake. Do I have to treat you like cattle?’
They still cross the street crosswise.
So he tells them to pay tickets
and they still cross the street crosswise.
They don’t do it to make him angry…
they just got used to it and they tend to forget.
Jagus goes through the forest,
she carries a jug full of raspberries.
Oh, hey! My fate,
fate,
fate.
Oh…
my fate…
my fate…
What do I mean?
What I’ve already said
is what I would say to myself.
And Jesus
hangs on a cross.
Jesus hangs on a cross
with his arms open
and he embraces Poland.
The entire Poland.
The shadow of the cross falls on the countryside,
fields, meadows and forests.
It falls on the town and the city,
on the muddy road.
The road on which the peasant
drives his carriage.
Yeah,
yeah,
ladies and gentlemen.
I don’t know what more should I say.
I am not willing to say anything more,
because it’s not worth it.
Why should you care?
Are you going to give your
comfortable positions up,
because someone suffers on the cross?
It’s enough. Let’s get out of here.
Suzanne!
Suzanne!
Meanwhile the work broke out
and I was taken prisoner.