Popieluszko. Wolnosc jest w nas

Plot synopsis:
The plot begins in 50s in the Podlasie region of Poland where communist authorities systematically demolish the post war remains of guerilla forces their natural political opposition. The communist propaganda is rampaging. For the family of young Popieuszko religion is the only stable element of their existence. Consequently priestly vocation is born in the boys heart.The end of 60s. Young Alek is forced to compulsory military service in a special military unit for seminarians. Juvenile rebelliousness and faith make him a spiritual leader to his peers in their resistance against communist political indoctrination. He faces persecution. He becomes mentally firm but his health is seriously weakened.The end of 70s in Warsaw. Alek (named Father George) unsuccessfully acts as a pastor to hospital nurses. Hes deserted at his first mass. In the meantime Karol Wojtya is elected a Pope. This makes Father George consolidate the community and organize medical service to the first pilgrimage of John Paul II to his homeland.August, 1980. Father George is a priest in the parish of St. Stanislaw Kostka. His curate isnt very enthusiastic about him because he cant sing nicely. When steelworkers on strike ask to celebrate a mass for them only accident makes Popieuszko find himself in a steel plant . Here he learns the real labourers problems and starts helping them. It makes him feel useful and happy.Martial law is introduced. Tanks are standing in Warsaw streets. Steelworkers strike is brutally suppressed. Father George recognizes the feeling of hate in his heart. He fights it by total devotion to helping the victims. His presence at political trials of labourers attracts the attention of communist secret service agents.Father George is trying to restrain his protégés from participating in an independence demonstration on 3rd of May but he accidentally becomes a witness of its dramatic pacification by the communist militia. His survival from that gives him an asset to give a sermon during the Mass for Motherland. It turns up that Father George can excellently express peoples feelings. He gets respect and admiration but also envy and hate. State authorities complain of him to the church hierarchy but the bishops cant find anything contradictory to the Gospel in his words.More and more people come to Father George. He becomes an authority. A few tries of intimidation by communist secret service especially throwing in a bomb cause spontaneous forming of voluntary church guard by the labourers who protect the Priest himself and protect the Masses for Motherland against any provocation. Famous actors, groups from all over the country and friends from abroad who attend these masses grow in numbers.When in May, 1983 the son of an opposition activist, Grzegorz Przemyk, is brutally murdered by the communist militia, Warsaw stuns with terror. On the contrary to his advisors opinions Father George convinces the church hierarchy that they have to demand justice. He organizes the burial when, on his demand, 60 thousand people demonstrate their opposition with silence.
Father George slowly comes to understanding what his role is and how much power of influence lies in his hands. He accepts the number of invitations from all over the country and wherever he appears he calls the evil with its proper name and demands the truth.
State authorities force him to visit the public prosecutors office. While searching his house militia find some discreditable materials. Father George is arrested but released after the intervention of the bishops. Hes told off by them after that and the media vilify him. His friends cant understand why he doesnt want to attack his foes by name. Father George feels week and lonely. He leaves to the mountains and there he meets a man who gives him the words of support from The Pope.Father George is preparing the pilgrimage of labourers to the Jasna Góra sanctuary. He learns some threads that if he makes it happen he will be killed. He realizes that some communist secret service agents are among people in his nearest vicinity. Some acquaintances suggest him to flee to a research visit abroad. The primate agrees to that providing Popieuszko will ask for that. Father George refuses to do that.Father George visits his land of childhood. He slowly prepares his family and relatives to his death. Then he conducts the pilgrimage of labourers to the Jasna Góra sanctuary. There he gets some new invitations from other cities. Travelling to Gdask he faces the first assassination attempt.Father George becomes moody. Apparently he behaves ordinarily but before the next visit to other town he starts prolonging the meetings with people, the holy masses, confessions.He leaves to Bydgoszcz. There he holds the rosary meditations. On his return trip he is kidnapped, tormented and murdered.The news about Father Georges kidnapping and murder results in the nationwide retreat. Tens of thousands of people confess their sins and take communion. Hundreds of thousands of Poles come to his burial and this time they are not afraid to demand the truth. People from Hungary, Czechoslovakia and other countries arrive in secret, too.

Tags: murder

Review:
Freedom Within Self, Freedom Within Nation, Freedom Within Humanity. "They can beat me, torture me, and even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience." The shocking sentence has occurred so accurate in the lives of many people, particularly in a life of a simple priest Jerzy Popieluszko (1947-1984)...Okopy, Poland on a sunny day filled with breezes that move tree branches, beautiful forests and such a peaceful atmosphere. Among these views of nature, we notice a young boy, Jurek, on the mushroom tour with his dad, a boy with a deeply religious upbringing where YES means YES and NO means NO and the lecture is THE KNIGHT OF THE IMMACULATA, a monthly magazine initiated by Maximilian Maria Kolbe. But who could then predict that soon, the peaceful life of this "boy" will be known in the whole country? Who could then predict that the "boy" will once shake the very foundations of communist ideology, who will become an object of fear even to the most "faithful wealthy comrades"? Indeed, no one could anticipate that this BOY will become one of the most genuine witnesses of Truth in the 1980s who will make the slaves of the red plague tremble...Having seen this movie on the big screen, I felt I was watching something really significant. It was felt, from the very beginning, that this movie is no simple entertainment that you see and soon forget, but a biopic that addresses the very essence of human psychology and the very core of latest history alike. All can be defined in one simple word: FREEDOM!POPIELUSZKO depicts the struggle for Freedom on two bases: the outer struggle within the nation and the inner struggle within oneself. While the former one represents all the background of Polish history including Solidarnosc movement and Wojciech Jaruzelski's policy, the latter one is universal. It is the struggle with all dangers against spirit, something people of good will know very well. Here, I should mention the powerful scene when Priest Jerzy leaves the trial hall and says a meaningful sentence: "It is hatred I fight against." "With what weapon?" someone could ask sardonically...with the "weapon" of goodness to people he meets around, he meets on his way of life. That's his scale of living: to fight, as he once says, not merely against the victims of evil but against evil itself. In this, he wins the battle with all wickedness that is meant to destroy his upright heart. This innate experience leads us to the depiction of Popieluszko as a social phenomenon of the time as well as an extraordinarily spiritual figure...He is truly the one who is ready to give his own shoes to someone in need, the one who has a word of advice to a desperate wife, the one who has a deed of consolation to a mourning mother, who offers understanding for regretting prisoner; finally, the one who pardons his own murderers... That is what we see in the process of his personal growth, the growth to BE more, to SACRIFICE more, to LOVE more, so to say, to FOLLOW his Master to the very horror of Cross. In this aspect, what touches most is the plot of Grzegorz Przemyk (Antoni Krolikowski) who, thanks to priest Jerzy's love, finds meaning in his short life.The aspect I particularly loved about the movie was the accurate combination of two JPs of the time...Jerzy Popieluszko and John Paul II. Although John Paul II preaches the good news from the heights, as the bishop accurately points out, it does not mean simple people are not beckoned to do the same. That's what Priest Jerzy realized and brought to reality.The intense psychology in the movie does not mean the film lacks humor. It's full of witty moments for the saint without a smile is a gray saint... Clever script and funny moments will amuse you to tears. I remember laughing at the scene Popieluszko practices his voice in the Marian song. Later, to my astonishment, his voice is the loudest and the best one of all. So you can learn anything if you want, even the, seemingly, "impossible"...The performances are crafted well. Although Adam Woronowicz is not a famous Polish actor, he does a wonderful job in the lead portraying his character's combination of simplicity with deep spirituality. The supporting cast include memorable performances by Kazimierz Kaczor, Krzysztof Kolberger, and Maja Komorowska. Furthermore, there is a need to mention the presence of His Eminence cardinal Jozef Glemp. I also liked the roles of Wladyslaw Kowalski as the Professor and Agata Piotrowska as madame procurator. They represent two opposing sides of human intellect and two opposite uses of it. Therefore, many Poles hope this film will be seen by lots of people of good will throughout the world. Why? Not due to alleged "promotion" of so called "Polish Catholicism" as some critics falsely accuse the movie of. The reason why POPIELUSZKO is worth seeking out is the message. Although so many years have passed since Priest Jerzy's tragic death, his spirit lives among us and his ideals of Freedom within humanity. The fact that 17 million people have visited his tomb so far says for itself... Yes, a spirit of a simple priest who dared say "NO" to evil, to bondage, to lie and manipulation because his "YES" was only for the Truth. And in spite of seemingly failed goals he had and allegedly lost dreams, his journey of life is the one of victory. While his journey ended with peace, the journeys of lie and tyranny, indeed, have reasons to tremble. Partly thanks to this film, Priest Jerzy's example keeps saying to us even louder now: set on your own journey in this very spirit, overcome evil with good in order to see, in the end, the smiling Face of Crucified Love.