Chicago International Film Festival
The Reconciliation
In 1945, Poland was emptying Nazi concentration camps
as the war was beginning to end. With all that free space and set up for camps,
the Polish government decided to turn those Nazi concentration camps into
Communist Labor Service Camps. The Polish Communist Security Service began
rounding up those Poland deemed as “national traitors.” They would find
Germans, Poles who were sympathetic to the Nazi’s and anybody else who worked
close with the Axis powers and brought them to these camps. While the prisoners
of these camps weren’t being starved, the treatment of these people was
horrific. While these people were traitors, do we really live in a world of an
eye for an eye? If someone has done something terrible to you, does that give
you justification to act just as vile towards them? It’s a similar dilemma that
came up in the final “Hunger Games” movie, and it got me thinking. Do the
actions of the Districts right after all the years of mistreatment by the
Capitol?
“Zgoda” AKA “The Reconciliation” is a movie that asks
that question, and it never leaves any real answers. Because honestly, what is
the right answer to that question? How can you even begin to answer it? Yes,
what the Nazi’s did to millions and millions of people allow those were
oppressed the opportunity to stick to the Nazi’s once the tables are turned?
Our we good guys for treating the bad guys the exact same way as they did?
There are moments in “The Reconciliation” that are just plain grim. That are
just plain horrific. “The Reconciliation” is a harrowing film, an incredibly
powerful film and at times a positively bleak film.
The film also adds an extra layer. The film focuses on
Franek (Julian Swiezewski), he is a man who proves his talent to the security
guards at one of these Polish labor camps, and they allow him to become a guard
at the camp. Little do they know that Franek’s true intentions are to rescue
Anna (Zofia Wichlacz) who is in love with. What Franek doesn’t know is that
Erwin (Jakub Gierszal) is at the camp as a prisoner. Erwin and Franek were once
very close, and both liked and cared for Anna. There is a complication for
Franek when trying to free Anna, and Anna is torn for who to care for.
In most movies, a plot with a background such as a
labor camp may feel sappy and wrong. But the crew behind this movie do a good
job making this story feel urgent. They make everything in this movie count.
From its stunningly shadowy cinematography, it’s fasted-place plot, to its
haunting musical score to its impossible-to-shake ending.
The acting chops by Julian Swiezewski, Zofia Wichlacz
and Jakub Wichlacz all phenomenal work here, which only adds to the fond power of
this film. Each actor jumping right in and giving it their all. They make this
movie count, the work overtime for the plot, which would be ridiculous in any
other movie feels grounded and natural here. I don’t know if any of you have
ever been a part or inadvertently be a part a love triangle. I don’t think I
ever have personally. I know I have liked girls in the past, but I don’t think
I’ve ever competed for the affections of another girl. I know boys have liked
girls I have been with in the past, but it never felt like I was hoping my
significant other would slip away from me. But I do feel that these three
actors do a magnificent job of portraying what a real love triangle looks like.
There is frustration, there is guilt, there are hurt feelings, there is
suspicion, there is jealously and it all works profoundly well here because
these three actors make us believe it. We can feel that these three tortured
souls are attracted to each other, but whatever life they had before this mess
is over, and something new has emerged in its place.
The movie’s main focus isn’t really on the love
triangle though. The main focus is put on survival. It’s a common theme for
movies like this, but I think “The Reconciliation” does good at communicating
the purpose and circumstance of survival. It shows us why the human spirit is
so resilient. What drives us to keep living this one, fragile life that we get.
The ending, that like I said, is impossible, is almost a fable. A punishment of
sorts on one character in particular, and how that punishment can harm and
affect those around him. Hate and despair can latch on to anyone and anybody
trapped in that particular person’s orbit. The shocking ending only highlights
that revelation.
I don’t know if there really was a Franek in Poland on
the eve of World War II’s end. I don’t know if there was a girl he liked named
Anna and I don’t know if Erwin really existed. What I do know is that “The
Reconciliation” tells truths about the human spirit and the human experience,
and the themes it relates are universal to all.
FINAL GRADE: A-
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