Pozegnanie z Maria

This film belongs to the tradition of The Pianist and Korczak. Polish Holocaust films pose individual moral questions for their characters. This is unlike Hollywood Holocaust films which are built upon simplistic stereotypes of various groups: the noble suffering Jew, the screaming psychopathic German, and the Poles who are simply slime. Hollywood films of this genre never mention a key point - the price for a Pole caught hiding a Jew was immediate execution - for himself, his family, neighbours, and simply passers by who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The story takes place during dramatic hours of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943). We can hear the bombs and see the orange sky in the evening.

First, there's the hero Tadeusz who brings home Sara, the strikingly beautiful Jewess in order to hide her - fully aware of the risk he could be placing his wife Maria, who is pregnant and their unborn child. Maria agrees with Tadeusz to hide Sara (even though she has a female sense that the much more attractive Sara could be a rival for her husband's attentions). Next there's the Manager of multiple family dwelling. He like many people who simply wants to avoid any commitment & take no risks. And lastly there are the villains, Tomasz and his wife. They are swine. The kind of people you love to hate. Tomasz has spotted Sara and 'has the hots' for her.

I won't tell you the denouement - other that to say it does not have the sugary sweet ending we would expect from Hollywood films on the subject. See the film for yourself.

An extra word. Tomasz the Swine is admirably played by Cezary Pazura, one of Poland's great comedians today. couchw1, Warsaw