[English below]
Povodom Svjetskog dana izbjeglica, pozivamo vas da u petak 20.06. odvojite vrijeme i pogledate s nama Zelenu granicu, važno filmsko svjedočanstvo onoga što se trenutačno događa u Europi ljudima zaglavljenima u limbu geopolitičkih igara. Uvod u film i popratni razgovor vodit će Nawar Ghanim Murad (Živi Atelje DK)
Zielona granica / Poljska / 2023.
Režija: Agnieszka Holland
Jezik: poljski, arapski, engleski, francuski
Titlovi: hrvatski
O filmu:
Poput Ide Pawela Pawlikowskog, moralna ozbiljnost i ukupna izvrsnost Zelene granice podsjećaju na vrhunac poljske kinematografije nakon Drugog svjetskog rata. Nije to iznenađenje jer su Agnieszku Holland mentorirala dva majstora te renesanse, Andrzej Wajda i Krzysztof Zanussi. Elokvencija crno-bijele kinematografije Tomeka Naumiuka doprinosi stalnoj briljantnosti njezina vizualnog stila fluidnim pokretnim kompozicijama i evokativnim prikazima prirode.
U posljednjoj europskoj prašumi, na granici Bjelorusije i Poljske, obavijenoj tamom i tek povremeno osvijetljenoj svjetlima farova i baterijskih lampi, odvija(la) se drama, u režiji Aleksandra Lukašenka i poljskih vlasti. Propaganda je obećavala siguran prolaz u Europu preko granice no izbjeglice koje su iskoristile priliku dočekane su neprijateljstvom; naoružane su tjerane naprijed-natrag preko barikada od bodljikave žice koje su presijecale šumu između dviju zemalja. Oni koji su uspjeli izbjeći policiju i granične snage morali su se nositi s opasnim močvarama, neprolaznim šikarama i temperaturama ispod nule.
Film naglašava da to nisu samo statistike u geopolitičkoj igri moći. To su uplašeni i ranjivi ljudi koji se nalaze kao pijuni u nemogućoj situaciji: oni su tri generacije obitelji koje su pobjegle od Islamske države u Siriji; ozbiljna, obrazovana Afganistanka koja se nada pridružiti svom bratu; tri tinejdžera iz Afrike zaluđena glazbom; i žena u poodmakloj trudnoći koja se boji za život svog nerođenog djeteta. Mogli bi biti bilo tko od nas.
Ta je priča o izbjeglicama jedna od tri glavne narativne niti u filmu. Druga prati mladog poljskog vojnika i budućeg oca koji se oklijevajući počinje boriti s moralnim implikacijama “samo izvršavanja naredbi” kada su posljedice tako očito i nepobitno okrutne. Treća nit priče odnosi se na raznorodnu skupinu aktivista koji upadaju u šume želeći pružiti pomoć prestravljenim izbjeglicama. Dok neki od onih koji pomažu izbjeglicama dolaze iz dalekih krajeva, drugi su lokalno stanovništvo šokirano zločinima koji se čine pred njihovim vratima.
Rezultat je tmuran, ali napet film u onome što se čini kao dva odvojena žanra: film o istočnom frontu u Drugom (ili Prvom) svjetskom ratu, i sasvim drugačiji, futuristički film: postapokaliptična drama u kojoj je šuma mjesto neke frenetične borbe za preživljavanje koju proživljavaju ljudi koji su ljudskosti gotovo u potpunosti lišeni.
U filmovima Europa Europa i U tami, oba o nacističkoj brutalnosti, Holland nas je podsjetila da je ljudska neuredna, često sitna humanost preživjela čak i dok se masovno i organizirano ukidala – nešto što je, kao poljska Židovka, bila posebno motivirana istražiti. Zelena granica čini to isto impresivnim mozaikom ljudi uhvaćenih u mreži očaja, gladi, straha i političke zlobe, filmom koji bolje prikazuje (novi?) hladni rat od najboljih dokumentaraca.
Post scriptum
Film je imao velikih problema – i zabrana – kod distribucije u Poljskoj. Jedan ga je poljski političar nazvao “sramotnim, odbojnim i gadnim”. Drugi je usporedio redateljicu sa “Sovjetima i nacistima” koji su “koristili propagandne filmove kako bi uništili sliku Poljske i Poljaka”. Zvuči poznato?
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[English version]
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, we invite you to take some time on Friday, June 20th, to join us in watching Green Border, an important cinematic testimony to what is currently happening in Europe to people trapped in the limbo of geopolitical games. The film will be followed by a discussion with Nawar Ghanim Murad including comments and reflections.
Green Border / Poland / 2023
Film director: Agnieszka Holland
Languages: Polish, Arabic, English, French
Subtitle: Croatian
About the film:
Like Paweł Pawlikowski’s film Ida, Green Border is serious and powerful. It reminds us of some of the best Polish films made after World War II. This is not surprising, since the director, Agnieszka Holland was taught by two great filmmakers: Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi. The eloquence of Tomek Naumiuk’s black-and-white cinematography contributes to the film’s continuous visual brilliance, with fluid moving compositions and evocative depictions of nature.
The story takes place in Europe’s last wild forest, on the border between Belarus and Poland shrouded in darkness and only occasionally lit by headlights and flashlights, a grim drama unfolds, crafted by Alexander Lukashenko and the Polish authorities.
Propaganda promised a safe passage into Europe via the border, but the refugees who took the chance met with violence; they were driven back and forth across barricades of barbed wire cutting through the forest between the two countries. Those who managed to escape the police and border military forces had to deal with dangerous swamps, inaccessible woods, and freezing temperatures.
The film highlights that these are not just statistics in a geopolitical power play. These are terrified and vulnerable people trapped like pawns in an impossible situation: three generations of a family who fled ISIS in Syria; a serious, educated Afghan woman hoping to reunite with her brother; three music-obsessed teenagers from Africa; and a heavily pregnant woman fearing for her unborn child’s life. They could be any one of us.
This refugee story is one of three main narrative threads in the film. The second follows a young Polish border guard and father-to-be who begins, with hesitation, to grapple with the moral implications of “just following orders” when the consequences are so clearly and undeniably cruel. The third storyline focuses on a diverse group of activists who venture into the forest to help terrified refugees. Some of those aiding the refugees come from far away, while others are locals shocked by the crimes being committed on their doorstep.
The result is a grey but fascinating film that feels like two separate genres: an Eastern Front war film from the Second (or First) World War, and a completely different, futuristic one: a post-apocalyptic drama in which the forest becomes the site of a frantic struggle for survival among people almost entirely stripped of their humanity.
In films ‘Europa Europa’ and ‘In Darkness’, both dealing with Nazi brutality, Holland reminded us that messy, often petty human decency survived even within mass, systematic destruction, something she was especially driven to explore as a Polish Jew. Green Border does the same, presenting an impressive mosaic of people caught in a web of despair, hunger, fear, and political cruelty, a film that portrays the (new?) Cold War better than the best documentaries.
Postscript:
The film faced major issues—and bans—in distribution within Poland. One Polish politician called it “shameful, repulsive, and disgusting.” Another compared the director to “the Soviets and Nazis” who “used propaganda films to destroy the image of Poland and Poles.” Does it sound familiar?
