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2011, 06-04:
Review of movie: “THE OFFICER’S WIFE” + Q&A with Director PIOTR UZAROWICZ
= Documentary (with "hidden" FACTS) about POLAND before, during & after WWII
This documentary was part of the free-to-the-public SUMMER Film series being held (Wednesdays & some Saturdays) by the CHICAGO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL at Chicago’s Cultural Center for 21 weeks this year. It was shown on June 1 & 4, both times with the attendance of the film’s DIRECTOR, PIOTR UZAROWICZ...
... The story starts with the death of the director’s father. As Piotr is going over various items that had been owned by his dad, he finds a “forgotten” safe deposit box that had been in a bank. Inside that box were items from his GRANDMOTHER (his father’s mother)– a manuscript she’d written about her history, old photos, + an unusual postcard...
... As he investigates further, Piotr learns that the card & manuscript tell stories about UNKNOWN events in the history of his father & grandmother. They had tended to be “QUIET” about their pasts-- & what Piotr learned was shocking & EYE-OPENING to him...
... While he knew his father (born in Poland) had lived in SIBERIA for a time, his dad never wanted to really TALK about that part of his life... The manuscript written by his grandma started Piotr on learning about a generally “FORGOTTEN” period in history...
... Russia had forcibly ABSORBED once-independent Poland in 1795 and then again in 1831 (after a brief period of renewed independence). World War I was a time of great UPHEAVAL in Europe, especially in the eastern parts near Poland...
... After that war, famous Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski had made a PATRIOTIC speech [in Poznan, Poland on December 27, 1918], & that helped lead to an UPRISING against the Russians...
... The Poles kept fighting for about 6 months, after which the Allies carved out a re-established INDEPENDENT Poland from land which had been controlled by the defeated Germans, Austrians and Russians...
... Piotr’s grandmother had been married to an OFFICER in the new Polish army. From February, 1919 until March of 1921, fighting CONTINUED between Poland and the new Bolshevik Soviet rulers of Russia. Poland REMAINED independent, & the Soviets never “forgave” the people in Poland for the lands they’d “lost”...
... After 1933, the NAZIS under HITLER started consolidating their control of GERMANY to the west and north of Poland... As part of his plans to start a new WAR in Europe, Hitler secretly signed a “Non-Agression” Pact (called Molotoff-Ribbentrop) with the Stalin-controlled SOVIET UNION (to Poland’s east)...
... In September of 1939, Germany & the Soviet Union INVADED Poland & CARVED IT UP between them, by annexing once-Polish lands... That led to Britain & France declaring WAR on Germany, which ushered in WORLD WAR II...
... Once the Soviets had control of their area of Poland, they worked to forcibly REMOVE various of the Polish inhabitants, sending a number of them to areas like SIBERIA... As Piotr’s documentary shows by using “moving” ANIMATIONS (drawn by DAVE SPAFFORD), Piotr’s grandmother was sent away towards there with her 3 sons, the youngest of whom later became Piotr’s FATHER...
... Before being evicted from Poland, the grandmother’s HUSBAND was forcibly taken by the Soviets... He was one of around 22,000 Polish officers and intellectuals taken away. In April & May of 1940, in the KATYN FOREST area near Smolensk, USSR, the entire group was secretly MASSACRED & buried under the orders of Soviet ruler STALIN...
... Altho she tried before & after her expulsion from where she’d lived in Poland, Piotr’s grandmother could never find out what had “HAPPENED” to her Officer husband... She & her children (as well as OTHERS who’d been forced from their homes) led a very DIFFICULT life in the Soviet Union...
... On June 22, 1941, after fighting the Allies in the WEST, Hitler turned his attention to the EAST & invaded the SOVIET UNION he’d had the “Non-Agression” pact with. Wanting to keep Hitler “busy” on 2 fronts, the Allies worked to add the SOVIETS as an “ally”, conveniently “OVERLOOKING” many atrocities known to have been committed by Stalin...
... In 1943, while invading the western Soviet Union, the Nazi’s DISCOVERED the hidden graves of the massacred Polish officers in Katyn & announced it to the world, including photos & FILMS they’d found of the killings the Soviets had done...
... The Soviets (using their recurrent “BIG LIE” technique) tried to claim it was the NAZIS who’d committed the massacre. The Soviets kept trying to “COVER-UP” things, asserting that the Nazis were lying in their statements...
... The British & other Allies (who had to know it was the SOVIETS who’d done it) continued trying to “gloss-over” the Nazi claims about Stalin & the Soviets, wanting their citizens to keep SUPPORTING the effort of supplying & backing Stalin in the vital Eastern front...
... In time, after a very hard life, Piotr’s grandmother & her kids were able to LEAVE the Soviet Union, supposedly under an “amnesty”...
... They traveled to Iran, Palestine, & later to South America & eventually to the U.S... By May of 1945, the Nazis & their Axis conspirators were DEFEATED by the Allies-- in a war that had cost the lives of around 60 MILLION people around the world...
... After World War II, the Allies allowed the Soviet Union to politically CONTROL Poland & similar “neighbor” Eastern European areas...
... Thanks to various freedom movements, the “Warsaw Pact” area (fostered by the Soviets) started disintegrating around 1990, & the Soviet Union itself was “dissolved” as a specific entity around 1991 (becoming the C.I.S., with Russia & other states)...
... Altho Polish people & others kept demanding an accountability for the expulsions & all they’d suffered thru in World War II, it wasn’t until 1990 that the Soviets ADMITTED they’d committed the massacre at KATYN, & have never agreed to “COMPENSATE” any victims or survivors of what they did in Poland...
... It’s with all that “background” that Piotr’s father (and grandmother & other relatives) would NEVER openly TALK to Piotr & other kids about what had transpired in their lives in the 20th Century before coming to the US...
... The documentary from Piotr tends to move generally chronologically re how events “unfolded” for his family in Poland and after they left. He uses numerous INTERVIEWS with people who were either directly “INVOLVED” in the events or knew of them from their families (fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, etc.) or friends...
... In the film, you can see how Piotr in time WENT to Poland & Russia, to try to better understand & “CONNECT” with the facts he’d uncovered bit-by-bit, & visit “significant” AREAS involved in the lives of his ancestors & relatives...
... Many of the people talking in his film are still deeply hurt and ANGRY over what transpired-- the massacres, expulsions & LIES given by the Soviets, the cover-ups by the governments in Britain & the U.S., etc...
... Two of the many people utilized in constructing the movie are WLADYSLAW BYRDY (as narrator) & BEATA POZNIAK as Cecylia (speaking words of the grandmother)...
... It’s a very touching, upsetting, moving & CHALLENGING story, told by people who deeply CARE about the subject & keep hoping for “BETTER” times for their families & friends...
... Because of the CARE & love & truth-seeking WORK that went into tracking down the facts (about an often-overlooked or untaught period in history) & making the film, I’m rating it as 8.75 of 10 stars...
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Q&A with Director PIOTR UZAROWICZ
AFTER the movie (which was attended by a full house), the audience was very pleased to hear a TALK with the director of the film...
... Piotr started out by THANKING the audience for staying for his Q&A. He volunteered that, when he first started on the project, “I intended to make a very DIFFERENT film—” than the one we saw today...
... Piotr said, his father had just passed away & his thoughts about possibly making a film concerning him was “part of the process of DEALING with that—”. It was then that he came across his grandmother’s memoirs which he’d never known even EXISTED...
... Piotr considered simply creating a film about a family whose father (namely, his) NEVER really TALKED about his earlier life. For example, his father had never told him details of the time he’d spent in SIBERIA, working to avoid the subject by simply saying, it was “a VACATION” for him...
... After finding his grandma’s manuscript (when going over things of his father), he decided that his movie must be a story of not just her OWN life as an Officer’s wife, because “It’s a FAMILY story—”, since “That tragedy [of what happened to her husband + her & their kids] LIVES ON...”
... Piotr related how 2 men he’d interviewed in the movie (whose names I think were like Adamczyk & Shimmel) were in the AUDIENCE today (& people applauded when he had them stand up)...
... Continuing, Piotr said, his “biggest challenges” were in just FINDING those people who could provide reliable FACTS about the situation in Poland from like World War I on, & then “convincing people to SHARE their thoughts & histories”...
... He commented that, by hearing them talk, “I discovered who MY dad is, vicariously, through THEM...”
... It took considerable time & effort to discern “why do people make DECISIONS they do”. He could readily see that people with facts were having to reflect on not just “what to say, but how MUCH...” He feels that, “The heart of the story is the FAMILY—”...
... A question came up about his using the moving (animated) line-drawing ILLUSTRATIONS to graphically tell most of the past history of his family in Poland & Russia. That was done as a highly-considered decision:
... Piotr didn’t want to subject people to putting them in a STUDIO & have them “RE-ENACT” what had transpired (or to directly “RE-LIVE” the horrors in their families’ lives)...
... Thus, he decided it’d be very effective to utilize the ILLUSTRATIONS (excellently done by animator DAVE SPAFFORD), & thus “let you [in the audience] use your IMAGINATIONS” to help deepen the situations & “meanings” of what had transpired...
... He said, he’s especially grateful to [Academy-Award-winning Producer] Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for the fine MUSIC in the film (& the audience applauded for that)...
... A person in the audience thanked Piotr for the way his film serves to “throw some LIGHT onto a very dark period of our HISTORY”...
... Piotr commented that, he’s very grateful for the way the CHICAGO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL BROUGHT him here from his home in Los Angeles to talk about his film, & especially gratified at the way the audiences have given him a very receptive FULL house for BOTH of the screenings...
... A person in the audience remarked that they’d found his film to be “a very MOVING” experience, which Piotr appreciated hearing...
... The audience person said, he was (for some reason) reminded of a 23-year-old British woman who’d once commented to him about people who’d KILLED others...
... The audience person said, he was (for some reason) reminded of a 23-year-old British woman who’d once commented to him about people who’d KILLED others...
... When asked by that audience person, Piotr said no, he DIDN’T talk to anyone who’d admitted to DOING any of the actual killing of people in the KATYN FOREST massacre...
... He added about “ethnic cleansing” & similar killings since then that, “This is a horror that happens EVERYDAY [somewhere in the world]—”, & that he was “not trying to make a statement about HUMANITY” in that regard (he was mainly telling the story of his FAMILY)...
... Piotr said, he tried to find out why there wasn’t more involvement or hands-on “action” taken by the CATHOLIC CLERGY or the Red Cross in [neutral] Sweden against the killings & expulsions done by the NAZIS & Stalin. But, he could NOT get “more information forthcoming” from them [to no great surprise]...
... Continuing, Piotr said, he’s learned there was “a lot of information OUT there” at the time of the actions by the German Nazis & the Soviets-- but, “It was not politically ‘EXPEDIENT’—” for the British or Americans or others to REVEAL what they knew when they were trying to get their people to support Stalin & the like, since they needed Stalin to FIGHT on the Eastern front...
... He agreed with an audience member’s comment that, it was especially strange the way the U.S. for one DIDN’T REVEAL what it knew about things like the Soviet’s Katyn Forest massacre, since, during the 1950’s, America was going thru the “RED SCARE” period of McCarthy-ism (which you’d think would be an “apropos” time to work to disclose such things)...
... But, apparently, the U.S. Congress purposely “LOCKED down” information it had about Stalin, seemingly to try to HIDE the previous U.S.’ involvement with the “cover-ups” to its people...
... For that matter, as Piotr pointed out, the BRITISH government normally would’ve opened-up their World War II records by now. Yet, in 2000, they purposely re-FROZE their records for another 75 years, supposedly because people “mentioned” in them might still be “AROUND” & “impacted” by what would be revealed if the reports were opened up to the public!... (More “COVER-UPS”!...)
... A person in the audience wondered, couldn’t the VATICAN have been more helpful regarding what was happening in Catholic Poland before & during World War II?! Piotr felt that, again, there’s lots that various “sides” wanted to be kept HIDDEN about what was done & not done...
... For example, he found that the U.S. State Department at one time worked to SHUT-DOWN some things being said by the Polish media about events, to prevent them from revealing “secrets” & the like...
... And, at times, there’s been (as I understood it) “cooperation” in the form of SILENCE by some people representing the Polish government, since it needs the good-will of the U.S. to PROTECT Poland (especially with things the way they are nowadays)...
... Piotr was asked by an audiendce member, how LONG did it take him to put the film together? He replied, he’d spent 5 YEARS on the film. He’d shot 200 hours of interview footage around the world, only a small portion of which is seen in the completed film...
... For example, the documentary mentions how many people from both Poland & the U.S. were going to the Smolensk area of the old Soviet Union in 2010 for a planned 70th Anniversary commemoration and tribute re the KATYN FOREST massacre...
... But, as the film documents, the plane they were on CRASHED on April 12, 2010, killing the current Polish President Lech Kaszynski + numerous other government, business, civic & artistic people from Poland & the U.S... A massively ironic tragedy on “TOP” of a tragedy concerning people they were tryng to honor!...
... Piotr had INTERVIEWED a number of people who ended-up being ON that doomed plane. His plan had been to have a section on their thoughts before & after the remembrance events. Since he could never get any “after” thoughts from those wonderful people, he sadly had to vastly scale-back the segment on them in the finished version of his film...
... In response to some words from the audience about the making of the film, Piotr spoke of how his family didn’t want him to go to RUSSIA to film at places involved with his grandparents & others, fearful that the Russians would not respond “kindly” to his “questions” about things...
... But, he felt it was best to MAKE the trip, & found that the individual Russians did NOT respond badly to him, in part because Stalin had killed many of THEIR people too, & they could appreciate his wanting to better “understand” & make “peace” with the memories & all...
... In a way, he saw that, “There’s also a beautiful LIGHT... within all of us—”, & he feels it’s up to us to seek out & VALUE the good things in other people...
... A man in the audience spoke of how he disliked the way the Soviet position was that they allowed the Poles they’d expulsed to Siberia to leave under a supposed “amnesty”: that’s a term used for CRIMINALS, & people required to leave areas of Poland were NOT “criminals” at all!...
... Further, the Polish officers forced to go to the Katyn Forest were NEVER even given “amnesty” of any kind, they were summarily EXECUTED per the self-serving wishes of Stalin!... Piotr fully AGREED with those comments...
... A young man (seemingly in his early 20’s) said, he himself is not Polish-- but he’s been dating a Polish girlfriend he pointed out to his left, & he’s been working to try to UNDERSTAND her background more. He spoke some Polish words he’d learned from being around her & her family (which the audience applauded him for)...
... He commented on how Piotr’s movie had HELPED him a good deal in better understanding the culture & history (such as concerning the recent plane crash, which HE’d heard of, but most of his friends knew NOTHING about), & he thus APPRECIATED all the work that Piotr had done in it...
... A lady in the audience brought up the subject of how President Barack Obama had recently VISITED Poland. Since that provided a general chance for “reconciliation” concerning the way the U.S. government had gone along with the conspiracy to COVER-UP Stalin’s involvement in the Katyn Forest massacre, she wondered what Piotr felt about why Obama FAILED to delve into that subject...
... Piotr indicated, he felt Obama decided there was nothing much to “gain” by going into the subject. He commented on how there’s a very “strong closeness” between the U.S. & Poland, & it’s been that way for a lengthy period of time...
... But, there are indeed some ODD anomalies in the relationship, such as how the U.S. wants $ 100 charged to Polish people who are required to get a VISA to visit the U.S., whereas such visas are NOT required for citizens from OTHER European Union countries [a group Poland joined in 2004]!...
... But, since the Polish government “needs the U.S. to be a good FRIEND”, they don’t “PUSH” the matter with the USA... There’s a lot of talk about the missile shield the Poles want the U.S. to build in Poland, & thus “smaller” things get purposely “IGNORED” between the 2 countries...
... A young woman commented on how she’d found the film to be “beautifully done”, & she liked the picture seen of his grandma...
... To a question he was asked, Piotr said, “Every line you hear my grandmother [speak via the actress in the film], it’s a direct TRANSLATION from her memoirs—” he’d found in his dad’s safe-deposit box...
... Piot commented that, one of the things that most “struck” him in doing his background research was the way EVERY person he talked to independently brought up how it was at 4 AM that the Soviets came & rounded-up people to be REMOVED from Poland towards Siberia!...
... It seemed to be something that had deeply “struck” each person it’d happened to!... But, while the expulsions tended to be generally the same, there were, of course, different stories & variations about what had HAPPENED to the people AFTER they’d entered & tried to leave Russia...
... A senior citizen lady remarked that she’d found the film to be excellently done, which Piotr was pleased to hear... She said, there were MANY tragedies involved with the 2nd World War. For example, her husband’s whole family was DESTROYED in the Holocaust. Such things make her wonder, are human beings truly “HUMAN” in their essence with the way they behave?!...
... Piotr said, he can readily understand why people would be deeply discouraged by what has happened time & again with the way certain people treat others. One of the reasons he made the film as he did was because of his “hope that people may well LEARN from this, and, one day, we will ALL be ‘human’—” in the way we act toward OTHERS around us...
... A lady who looked to be around her mid 30’s wondered, didn’t Piotr’s UNCLES ever talk about THEIR lives before & after the War, even if his own father didn’t? He said no, they didn’t...
... He can only guess why that was & why his DAD avoided the subject-- basically expecting it was a very difficult time that they simply DIDN’T wish to “RE-LIVE” in any way... He feels that, at times, the kids like him felt it was better to DROP the subject, since “Maybe we don’t want to know about it’s being such a very HARD time—” for people we love...
... A man in the audience described himself as a film-maker, & thus he especially wondered if Piotr had any FUTURE projects he was scheduled to work on? Piotr said well, he’s working on another documentary at the moment, which has made him feel that, “I need to get ‘out’ of them—” for a while, since they can be very DIFFICULT to keep “dealing” with (emotionally & otherwise)!...
... From the audience, one of the elderly men who was interviewed in “THE OFFICER’S WIFE” (see photo below) pointed out how, although the Katyn Massacre occurred 71 years ago, “Not a day goes by that it isn’t ‘WITH’ me inside...”
... An audience person said, his family knew narrator BYRDY’s family when they were in Palestine, & thus, “I feel very much what YOUR family went through—”, since his OWN family went thru a lot of the same things. For example, he lost his grampa in Siberia...
... The person said, he was very touched by the REACTION of people HERE to watching the story of the suffering of others... He especially liked the way Piotr approached the movie in such a very deeply HUMAN way which caused people to get EMOTIONAL while watching it...
... I shot another photo as the guy urged Piotr to “Do ANOTHER one!”, which was greeted with strong applause by the audience...
... A man describing himself as a psychologist wondered about the LAWSUIT that was filed in the International Court of Justice against Stalin’s actions in the Katyn MASSACRE. He also wondered about the chances of forming a sort of “reconciliation” commission concerning the event...
... Piotr’s movie had talked about how Polish survivors & their relatives had gone to court in RUSSIA asking for unspecified “reparations / compensation” concerning the massacre & the expulsions, & how the Russian judge had recently worked to “AVOID” the whole subject by trying to say that the victims had to in-effect rise-up from the DEAD & THEMSELVES make the complaint...
... Piotr said, the people who went to court had done so in Moscow as that was a requirement before the INTERNATIONAL court could take-up the case... Those filing asked for ZERO “restitution” money-wise, tho the Court can apply certain “PENALTIES” against the government that originated the illegal acts (& possibly against its “successor” entity, Russia)...
... The case was filed, in-effect, to call people into “ACCOUNT” for what was done (so others didn’t “FORGET” about it)... And, obviously, the “reaction” by the Russian judge was because “Russia’s trying to find a way so they don’t get ‘NAILED’—” in the matter... It’s debatable whether anything “concrete” will EVER come of the matter -- much less any “reconciliation”--, tho...
... A Polish lady in the audience commented on how it’s all a deeply EMOTIONAL matter to relatives & friends of those who suffered...
... Piotr agreed, & said, “I’m honoring my FAMILY—” in making the FILM as he did, & he has no idea where it’s going to “go” BEYOND that... Overall, “I’m glad people here were TOUCHED by it!...”
... Piotr spoke of how he’d screened the film at his own house in the Los Angeles area, & how, after seeing it, a 25-year-old friend asked if he could invite some of his friends to see it. He was touched by it, & ANGRY at certain things he’d seen, wondering, “Why have I never HEARD about this [series of events] before?!”...
... And Piotr has found that that is a common reaction to the film: people get very frustrated & ANGRY and UPSET about the UNFAIRNESS of it all, & the way governments worked to “COVER-UP” facts...
... Piotr was touched when a girl in the audience commented that, after SEEING the film, she feels she’s got to go call HER grandma & let her know how much she MEANS to her!... Piotr agreed that “This story goes beyond the details of this event!”...
... Piotr said, the film (which has been shown in certain Festivals) will be shown in Chicago in OCTOBER (& later told me, when I congratulated him on his fine work, that it will be at the Copernicus Polish Center = 5216 W. Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630; Phone: 773-777-8898 … www.copernicusfdn.org/ )...
... AFTER the formal talk, numerous people came up to speak “privately” with Piotr... After my words, a man who seemed to be LATINO spoke to him & related how he ALSO had recently found old photos & STORIES in a box she’d saved (similar to what had happened to HIM!)...
... And, a Polish man came and mention how he’d written a script about Polish patriot Ignace Jan PADEREWSKI who recently had the 150th anniversary of his birth, & he was hoping Piotr might LOOK at it...
... All-in-all, a fascinating and THOUGHT-PROVOKING talk today!...
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