present, co-funded by Polish Film Institute,
a Janusz Morgenstern film
THE LESSER EVIL
Written by
Starring
Costume Designer
Makeup
Interior Design
Art Director
Sound
Music
Edited by
Production Manager
Executive Producer
Co-producers
Director of Photography
Producer / Director
Kamil.
Hi.
- So you're moving out? - Definitely.
What're you going to do?
I could sue the university for intending to fire
such a talented instructor.
But I don't want to... I wouldn't win, anyway.
- Not even worth trying? - I understand them.
Why a guy from the opposition?
Look, your instructor's coming along.
I have no chance to pass her exam. This is my second faculty.
If I don't pass, they'll expel me.
Couldn't you make friends with her?
We should have a date some day.
No problem... I have some days off...
Drop by the café. Best around 12.
- You know where? - I do.
So you've made it, but didn't even brag at all...
Oh, you!
What could I say, completely in the dark?
Didn't you warn me not to count it'd be out,
as it's a clique that scratches only their own backs?
But they appreciate who they should.
Mr. Kamil... Bravo! I've heard... A debut's a serious matter.
Now you should apply for a writer's grant...
I'll think about it, sir.
So... come to class!
Here... here...
The New Image monthly, please.
Or no... two... Three copies!
- Three? To resell? - No, I've debuted!
What?
Hello...
What's this supposed to be?
Concrete poetry. My poetic debut...
Finally, it has come true...
What's come true?
I chose the Polish Dept. to become a writer.
And I'm one... A poet, that is.
What poet? What's this?
AAAA ZZ...
12345678. Question marks?
What does it mean, will be, will be, will be, will be...
Was, was, was. What is this? How do you read it?
Normally, like a literary work and can be watched
as a plastic arts work at the same time...
I'll crank out ten of such works on the spot!
- You want to live off that later? - Some do.
Live or make ends meet rather.
I could launch you in foreign trade.
I could fix you with a job in a commercial mission,
be it Sophia, Budapest, or Moscow. A sinecure for life.
- But you wanted the Polish Faculty. - Where I can learn to write poems.
You know what I call it?
Two years down the drain! Exactly.
How do you expect to sustain a wife and kids?
Who'll hand me a glass of vodka in my old age?
You'll see!
You'll come to regret it.
What am I going to regret? I regret already!
Kamil...
Beautiful, my son...
Such a success... May I see it?
I'm so happy.
Don't mind all that father's twaddle...
Would you like a sandwich?
- Aren't you hungry? - No.
- I'll prove it to him. - I know, son...
I'll bring you something right away...
And you create... create.
Why should he go with the flow?
Why be a sheep in the herd?
Let him aspire to something,
so that he could look you straight in the eye some day...
Once, I was like he's now.
When I look at him, he reminds me of myself.
- Hi. - Hi.
- Ever been here? - Never.
Watch out for that mustache and kid.
A snitch. Sits here all day and eavesdrops.
Good to know. I've come for advice.
I'd like to use the local library.
No problem. Anybody can.
Wonderful. Did you hear Radio Free Europe?
A man incinerated himself in Cracow.
Yes, it's an old story... from March.
He chained himself to the pump not to let them rescue him.
Horror...
In protest against the Katyń Forest lies.
The propaganda will make him a lunatic.
They'll simply pass it over in silence.
But we have our own papers without censorship,
which won't let them hide anything.
Go upstairs and get it done.
- Do you have matches? - I don't.
I've looked for it in all bookstores. Not a chance.
Only under the counter. This is from the author.
To a fellow writer with best wishes...
Sorry to be reading a private dedication...
but I just adore him...
I didn't think you know him so well!
Not only him...
But tell me what way is he... in private?
I can tell you about him if you like.
I certainly do... But... now?
Any time...
There's a typewriter in my room...
Surprised? You must have a typewriter.
What else will you type your poems with?
With your finger in the sand? You must have a typewriter, man.
- But you said... - Said what?
That my poems are...
Nothing of the kind. Nobody could've said that.
They spoke about you on TV.
My secretary told me they'd spoken about
young Polish poets and mentioned your name.
- Nobody told me a thing... - Envy, buddy, plain human envy.
They have experts on TV.
It must've made your fellow writers' blood boil, yes or no?
- What did they say? - I don't know.
The secretary forgot... But they mentioned our name.
Our name, man.
So I thought: a poet they shout about
from the rooftops nationwide without his tools?
It can't be that way. It's unseemly, right?
Thanks... It was funny to write only by hand...
as if a stark amateur...
You promised Mom not to smoke.
Well, poet! To pen, please. Typewriter, that is...
- Come on. - Thank you...
Hi.
Good to see you...
I got an errand to run.
- Can you wait? - I can't, I have a class right now.
But on Friday Father leaves
for some staff training. I'll be home alone. Will you come?
I'll call you...
Don't open the door!
As if his clap was not enough. Want him to catch a cold?
Name and address of your partner... The one you laid.
We must call her immediately. Otherwise she'll spread it.
- I don't know... - What do you mean?
I had one here who insisted he'd caught it solo,
because of masturbation. Don't you know whom you humped?
I don't. A Swedish student.
I met her in the club once never to see her again.
That's what I see:
Not a typical clap, that. Capitalistic...
- Excuse me! - Yes?
You shouldn't waste your time
on that Parisian Kultura in our library.
What can you find there besides hatred
to all that's ours... socialistic...?
How do you know I read Kultura?
A Party secretary, I must know about everything.
Haven't you thought about a serious ideological
- involvement? - What do you mean?
Well... of joining the Party?
We need young blood that's truly committed.
- We can appreciate such attitudes. - I'll think it over.
Why did you sound so formal on the phone?
I must've had a reason.
- What're you talking about? - You've infected me...
I have...? What with?
Not with a head cold, right?
That shit!!!
- Who? - No matter...
- Who? - My fiancé...
I see. No matter.
Go to the clinic. I've been there already...
- And you squealed on me? - Yes.
To send you a summons from a venereal clinic.
- Thank you... - Best regards to your fiancé.
They want to expel me. I'm in dire straits!
What did the dean say?
He knows well I've taken a year off.
Another one is out of the question.
I don't have two credits.
They'll expel me and that's that.
- Could you help me, sir? - What can I do?
The dean's not fond of me.
Why did you flunk the two exams?
Well... I got ready a book of poems.
Three publishers have turned it down already.
How about prose? Short stories...
I've been thinking about it, but it's not so simple.
It's so time-consuming.
Before I knew it, the examination session was on.
I have too little clout. Maybe the Party secretary?
- I won't go to him... - Why?
I know him. He advised me...
to become a member.
But in this plight when you're in a tight spot,
of all people it's him.
Meets the statute requirements? So what?
He's written two books? But one outside censorship
and the other published underground?
Candidacy has been rejected, because of a low artistic standard!
Come in.
I'm sorry.
I've read your application.
The army is a wonderful male adventure!
Let alone a sheer plethora of subjects!
I'm not cut out for a soldier.
They may assign you to an interesting military paper?
The Soldier of Freedom...
I've already been assigned to a unit...
I can't do anything about it.
If you were with us, I mean along the Party line...
You had time to make a manly decision,
a mature one at that...
Our much older colleague helped Marek Hłasko
to exempt him from the service once.
Today she thinks it was a big mistake of her life.
The army could've helped him to stand on his own feet.
He wouldn't have defected, but lived and wrote...
He had a chance to make it big. But he...
You have to work hard for success, my friend.
Checkmate!
Why, the army is not for poets...
I just said about that army paper in the sec's presence.
The draft board may exempt you...
So far I've been assigned to a unit in the provinces...
God forbid! What're you going to do?
When they give me a gun, I'll blow my brains out.
Oh, come on! There must be a way.
A deferment... a sick note...
I've tried. It takes access
to someone who calls a general and gets it done.
I'll call.
I'll get it done.
You will? You know any generals?
- I'll call my sister. - Does she work in the army?
Oh no! She's a senior registrar in a mental hospital.
She'll take you in for some time.
Mentals aren't drafted.
But I'll have it on my track record for ever, right?
Does it really bother you?
You should choose the lesser evil.
Don't we have cuckoos in the Writers' Union?
Unless you want to serve a stint.
No... I'm just thinking out loud.
I may report and say how happy I am,
as I'm gay and my unit will be a paradise...
No kidding. The word will spread at once.
Nobody minds a mental, but a gay?
Three gossips can do you in completely:
A gay, or a security serviceman, or a Jew.
Or the three combined.
Let's go to my place. It's a stone throw from here...
We must make a call.
What if I get some wine. There's a store nearby.
We can find something in my place. Good and sweet.
This is where I live.
But say exactly when and where he reports.
As soon as possible. Tomorrow will be best.
You know and I understand...
No kidding, he's a poet. Sure. A talent, of course.
Pour... What?
That wasn't to you, but have a drink if it's at hand.
Of course, we should help...
Can you imagine how it could end? So long.
In two days, at 4 pm, at the psychiatric hospital.
My sister will be waiting. I led her to believe you've been expelled
for political activities.
She's going nuts there a bit too.
It's infectious, those crazy vibes from patients...
She thinks the system is coming to an end.
Good luck, poet!
- It's a total waste of time! - What?
I'm wasting my time.
I transferred to the Polish Lang. Faculty. Where else to learn to write?
It's supposed to be a base for the poet.
All I hear is join the Party. They'll know how to make me a writer!
Don't give a hoot and do your thing.
It's not all that simple.
It's even very hard. I know something about it.
What's that?
I've collected 37 signatures in three days.
- What signatures? - Under a protest letter.
- Will you sign too? - I've applied for a passport.
That's right. You never sign anything.
Gimme. I will.
It's against censorship...
I'm leaving for some time. Once I arrive, I'll send you my address.
- Better call me. - I may not be able to.
What am I?
What am I?!
Well, what am I?
A glider...?
How will I repay you? You're the first who
understood the truth about me! Everybody goes: a plane, plane...
I'm no plane whatsoever. I fly noiselessly.
I may take off.
I'm taking off!
My sister has told me about you.
Do you know anyone from the opposition?
Sure. I cooperate with KOR. (Workers' Defense Committee)
Fantastic.
Before coming here I signed
a protest letter against censorship.
- The authorities will rage... - Very good.
Censorship should be harassed in particular. It's them who gag us.
Yes, but to hear the authorities you won't even hear the word.
Only this Main Bureau of Press, Publications, and Show Control.
There's no censorship.
Protest letters won't do them harm, but the people will hear,
- and that's most important. - That's right.
The strikes spread ever wider,
which Radio Free Europe airs all the time.
Not only. So does the VOA and the BBC.
Have you done time in jail?
Of course. Now it's this system of detention for 48 hours.
Once your stretch is over, you walk and they detain
you outside the gates for another 48 hours.
I wonders what's for for a poet... The army or jail...
But you must show me your poems...
- Certainly. With pleasure! - My sister told me...
I must be off to patients...
Report to the reception,
you'll get those tasteful state duds, and they'll take you to your room.
- Thank you. - That's nothing.
Come to my office in the evening.
We'll be able to talk in peace and quiet.
Be seeing you.
Leave him alone!
This is your room. Don't be noisy...
Got cigarettes?
I got matches somewhere...
Divine angel my guardian, Stand by me all the time
Morning, evening, by day, in sleep, by night...
We'll get you such a disease
that the army will give you a wide berth.
- Will you have a drink? - I'll be glad to.
Just in case... Pour the drinks.
Very useful.
With its millimeter scale it's hard to cheat.
- Seems foreign... - Exactly.
Some are foreign from the patients' families,
others confiscated from the alcoholic ward.
You can't imagine how much they bring here.
Brandy mostly.
That's rubbish to fuck up liver.
May I smoke to chase it with?
To poison yourself? Pity your good health.
All right. I'll smoke too...
I'd like to thank you for your help...
That's nothing. You'll stay here for a spell
and your problem will be taken care of.
You can come here evenings.
I'll leave you the key and you can write here.
Your bed is in a small room. Peace and quiet, only light cases:
depressions, persecution complexes. We should help one another...
You know how to give first aid
to a Party member in an emergency?
No, I don't. How?
- You don't? - No...
Very good!
Now that you've mentioned it, I'm a Party member too.
You a Party member?
Could I be a senior registrar if not a Party member?
At my age? I'm too young for a managerial position.
I was just kidding.
If not I wouldn't be able to help the likes of you.
Pour it. The vodka's getting warm.
Bottoms up.
Tie me up.
- Make it tighter. - No need...
Divine angel, my guardian, Stand by me all the time.
Morning, evening, day and night Ready to help provide...
I only wanted to check you out with those cigarettes...
- I seemed to gobble them. You know. - Of course, I do.
They say that you're a poet...
Yeah...
- They watch you closely too? - Sniffing, snooping - all the time.
Have they found out where you hide manuscripts?
That's why I lock myself up in the doctor's office.
- I put them in a hiding place. - You kidding?
She sides with them! In cahoots with them...
But she doesn't know where the hiding place is.
She eavesdrops. The office is bugged all the time...
I'm in a difficult situation. I'm about to finish my book,
to which they're looking forward to.
Why do they have it in for you in particular?
You want to know too much.
You've trusted me. So I reciprocate.
You're not a plant, I hope...
A writer won't cheat or harm another writer.
I know I'll never be released.
But someone must save my book.
It's nowhere to be hidden except in bed.
When they come to search my bed, they'll rip
the mattresses and pillows open, searching in larger objects.
Hence the bolster pillow is the best.
I've ripped it open a bit and that's where
I'll hide my manuscript...
A fantastic idea!
Very good indeed!
NOTHINGNESS
NOTHING NESS
I must tell you something, but it's a secret.
They know that I've seen through
the core of the system and can expose it to the world.
That's why they told me to write a book.
Unfortunately, I'm nearing the end.
Once I finish, they'll destroy me.
- Don't finish, then. - No, I can't do that...
I can't stop,
as they give me orders every day to carry on.
When I finish, they'll appropriate the notebooks and will do me in.
See what SOB's they are?
They've locked me up here to control my creativity.
But I write my poems in a code.
They can break any code...
They have night-vision cameras here.
Makes no difference... They use apparatuses to read your mind.
Yes, yes.
Haven't they confiscated your earlier works?
- What works? - You must've written earlier too.
No, I wasn't given orders. Once I finish, they'll fix me.
- Stop it... - Are you sure?
The decision was made in Moscow long ago.
But my novel can still be saved.
You must take it and smuggle it outside at once.
Does anybody you trust visit you?
No one visits me here, as I've hidden here.
No one visits me either. My wife dumped me.
She sided with them.
Take it easy... Lie down. Come on.
Nothing untoward happened.
You'll soon see, something new will start in Poland.
- Can anything change here? - Now you're talking? A dissident?
Strikes everywhere. It's only a matter of time.
They can suppress those strikes, I'm afraid.
You strive for changes, but don't believe they'll come?
Sorry, this atmosphere here watching these people is infectious.
What do I do about you?
To be sure, patients denounce you, as I've given you the keys,
but they denounce me to me,
since I'm number one here...
Would you like to sleep here?
No, no, it's good in my room.
It's enough for me to write a bit in this office.
- Will you show me something? - What?
Loose notes so far...
But I've dedicated a poem to you...
Senior registrar!
Come here!
- What's up? - He's hanged himself.
How did it happen? You didn't see to it!
And I prayed so much for him...
And it wasn't answered.
I'll be praying for you now.
Divine angel, my guardian, Stand by me all the time...
Don't leave me now.
You can stay here as long as you please.
You're safe here.
...stand by me all the time: Morning, evening, day and night...
We have settled, as Pole talks to Pole.
Without the use of force.
Only talking, negotiating with few concessions.
It should always be this way! It's our common cause
and together we should lift all that's fallen down.
- Hi, Kamil. - Hi.
Meet the lady, an actress, who'll read my poems at the soirée.
- Hello. - Be sure to come.
I'll be glad to. It depends when.
I've just been summonsed to the Security Service Bureau.
I am to report in three days.
My soirée is tomorrow at 6 pm.
Don't answer any questions or sign anything...
I know!
Call me when you're back. We're interested.
The union press should be informed. Be sure to come tomorrow.
- Cross your fingers for me. - Bye.
- You too. - I'm crossing already...
See you. I'll come for sure...
Come here, son, come.
- Why? - Come here.
He'll come out right away.
Read him my letter, as he won't do it of his own will.
- Would you be so kind... - Louder!
Would you be so kind and took out the garbage.
Don't smoke so much. A half of the trash are your cigarette butts.
Mom...
And you'll be much surprised to get a divorce petition,
as you're a bastard with no conscience...
And I say don't threaten, cause you'll frighten yourself.
And don't repeat everything. You waste your breath and paper.
Holy Virgin! Will you send those by registered mail?
You're too young for this... too young...
Mom... why can't you reach an agreement?
You're too young... too young...
To Bożena...
I'm not late, right?
Shall I bring more wine?
- No, thank you. - Exactly...
For you, for your performance...
How do you know I deserve it?
Certainly... Some more wine?
- I was about to go home. - I'll walk you home.
As you wish.
I'll say good bye to the author...
Stop it!
I'm sorry.
Sorry...
I really wanted to...
but I can't force myself to...
I behaved like an amateur.
A little...
Someone's wronged you?
How do you know?
I'm a writer.
I get paid for knowing...
You see that smudge? It's my nosebleed.
That's how he hit me against the wall.
He wanted to force me to jump out the window,
and beat me till I finally said I'd jump...
When it dawned on him that I dreamed about it, he wouldn't let me.
Why did you let him in. Didn't you know him?
No, I didn't.
He walked up to me at the theater and asked if I'd marry him.
There were other actresses and actors at the cafeteria...
So I was reckless and said I sure would.
It was funny to back out later.
After all, why not?
A director, the situation being so unusual, film-like.
So we went to the wedding straight away.
Next the boozing in the actors' club
and he left with some guy.
He was back in two weeks and then beat me...
Is he still your husband?
There was one trial that was soon over,
as he admitted guilty, and alcoholic and gay.
The point had been a wager.
He'd explain it was an artistic intent
to check out extreme situations in the theater.
The quintessence of his method
would be a homicide on stage, not feigned.
For real with no ketchup.
As he'd discovered that art is a one-time act and final at that.
So that blood is mine.
I was happy it happened in the apartment, not on stage.
What saved me was the absence of audience...
- Will you have a drink? - No more... I'm tired.
Are you a poet?
I wrote poems...
- No more? - No, I still do...
- but less and less. I'm thinking of something bigger...
A novel?
Why a novel?
Well, maybe a novel...
Will you let me read it?
When I write it... Who knows...
I'm happy you're here tonight.
Chapter One
MAN SHOULD BE HUMANE TO MAN
Come with me.
What are you fucking up to?
You hate censorship?
Aren't you glad we're
the 10th industrial power in the world?
What do you all fucking want?
Counting on dollars from the CIA?
- I decline to answer... - Have I asked you a question?!
- I just... - Shut the fuck up!
Instead of being grateful to the people's power
for college with no fee, instead of ass-kissing
the authorities out of gratitude, you flunk exams?!
You think the homeland needs troublemakers like you?
You son of a bitch!
Shut you trap, or I'll fucking shut it myself!
Take it easy, Vladek. How can you?!
You have to forgive us.
Vladek's got nervous. It's overwork.
But you've hurt me very painfully, Mr. Kamil.
I've been watching closely your development
since the debut, and all of a sudden your outburst against censorship.
It's a very useful institution.
But for its use...
it wouldn't be necessary.
Censorship plays a very important role,
separating the wheat from the chaff,
thus making room for your creativity too.
Yeah...
- Why did you do it? - Friends talked me into...
Yes? What friends?
I don't remember who...
You see? We must remember about everything...
Keep our eyes peeled.
I'm not happy about everything either...
I can tell you in secret,
like every patriot I'd like us to have full independence,
but such is the geopolitical reality.
Why, we have the same objectives.
We care about the good of the homeland
and so do you. And you can help us.
What can I do?
We could sometimes meet
in a café
for coffee and brandy
and a heart-to-heart talk.
You would warn us of threats
and we can be grateful.
I'm not fit for such a role.
Aren't you going to publish a book of poems soon?
We can make a book be published quickly.
I can't do such things.
Not that I wouldn't like to help.
What I aspire to
are ambitious assignments, not such as those...
Challenges of high caliber.
If I were send to the US, I could expose Czesław Miłosz.
Doesn't he hate our reality?
Now with a Nobel Prize to his name, he's more dangerous.
I could reach him,
ingratiate myself with him, make friends with him...
You've been expelled from the university.
Aren't you afraid you'll be send to a penal unit in Orzysz?
No.
Do you know what Orzysz is? Criminals, scum, whatever...
You know what they can do...
how they can grind down an intelligent boy?
I'd like to join the army, but they won't take me.
How's that?
Yes, I'm sick.
Such a big guy? What's your trouble. Flatfoot?
No. I thought you knew.
I've just been released from an institution.
Get the fuck out of here! Where?!
Your pass!
Out!
... in those mountain woods,
- ... in the sunshine... - Again...
... we get suntanned. What again?
You know it well enough! I won't take it any more...
You'll see! I won't.
- Whose hair is this? - What hair?
A redhead, redhead, dark, dark. Here you are!
The whole hair stylist's.
A whole whorehouse on one coat.
Is this my hair? Mine?
Even if you didn't find a single hair,
you'd say I've humped a bald one!
- Why have you drunk? - Drunk? Drunk?
You've drunk alcohol! Wait for a divorce petition!
Do you realize how many people work for me?
What kind of responsibility I have?
You don't know a thing. My cigarettes were here! A whole pack!
Why do you smoke so much?
The doctor said cigarettes would be the death of you.
The doctor blathers, as they told him to.
- I'm off to a drugstore! - Now? At night?
- Everything's closed... Closed. - I'll find one! Not to worry!
Wait! Here...
She's found... She hid...
Hi!...
Yes, I'm writing.
Intensively...
I'm feeling fine at your place...
When are you back?
Wonderful... I'm waiting. Bye.
Fucking poetry, no?
Poetry...
What's this line for? Anything special?
We'll see when they open.
What do you think?
I wonder what to tell you. It's smashing!
But you'll never have it published.
No chances with the censorship.
- What censorship? - The normal one.
Not even for a moment did I think about a censorship!
- Only an illicit publication. - Aren't you afraid?
To give this book to a censorship?
Having signed a protest letter against it?
The famous letter?
Your fellow writers will gobble you up for such a novel.
I wonder if your circle is as envious as mine.
Even more. But we control ourselves, pretending
that everything is all right.
That nothing makes us happier than friends' successes.
OK. Do I open the wine?
Go ahead! Very much so.
Definitely yes.
Open it!
They didn't let me drive near the Central Committee...
The SOB's are scared...
How can they move 10 million people? Not a chance.
What SOB's?
Mind your language! Have I brought you up like that?
- I'm repeating after Father... - The Party! The United Workers.
- Aren't you a Party member? - A member, indeed!
Hadn't I been one, I wouldn't have become a manager.
It was my tactics, understand?
I formed a Solidarity cell in my factory at once.
100% of the workers are members!
And what have you gained?
Take it easy, friend. The small steps method.
So far we have Holy Mass aired on Sunday. Yes or no?
The rest will see its time come.
Can you imagine? 10 million!
We could cover them with our caps.
You'd have to cover yourselfwith that cap.
Haven't you given me enough trouble?
I could've almost lost my position.
What trouble?
The many times they've called me on the carpet
to explain your anti-socialistic excesses,
to declare that you were not living with us...
You should commend it. Mine ideas were the same as Solidarity.
Commendable. You're my blood!
It was nice to hear Radio Free Europe talk about you.
- I heard my own name. - So what's the point?
You always have to know when, how, with whom, and why?
No one can think tactically here.
That has brought our undoing and always will.
Unless we learn to think tactically.
Strategy is the most important.
Once I could not brag about you in public. But I can today.
This is strategy.
You should know how to sniff time.
The Party and the Security Service are two friends.
Hello.
Welcome, Mr. Kamil. Come on in.
- May I call you Kamil? - Sure.
Come on in. I'm happy you've come.
Please, come in.
Go ahead!
The running water jams eavesdropping very well.
Please be seated.
Abroad, I met the Polish publisher of your novel.
I've managed to smuggle two copies.
I hope you'll dedicate one to me.
Yes, certainly.
Most important, a German publisher has contacted him.
They want to have it out. The translation is under way.
They've sent me an advance for you: $500.
Excuse me?
Well 500. I see your disappointment...
It's not much, I know, for the book,
but the SOB's know perfectly the value of the dollar here.
They wouldn't have dared to offer this to one of theirs.
I didn't expect it...
- Count it. - No need.
I could easily live for a year off that.
I'm back from the foreign currency store.
The very idea.
They import everything from the West first,
only to export to their own citizens for dollars.
You'll be able to drink genuine coffee,
- tea, and whiskey... - Forget whiskey!
I think I'm pregnant.
Are you happy?
Is it certain?
- I don't know... I guess so... - What will happen now?
- What do you mean? - I mean you... Your career.
It's completely irrelevant in this situation.
- It doesn't matter. - Exactly, but...
You aren't divorced from that thug yet.
You're a married couple according to the law.
- The kid will bear his name... - Better this way.
The shit will have to pay alimony.
All right... Let's not rejoice now to avoid a disappointment later.
- I'm off to Cracow tonight. - Tonight? Why tonight?
They're establishing a magazine outside censorship
and asked me to be a staff writer.
But you shouldn't now... It's not safe...
Let those play at it who have no commitments...
What're you talking about?
If 20 years on, my kid asks what I did for Poland then,
what will I tell him? That I got scared?
You want him to be ashamed of me?
In your condition, you won't use it...
I'll be there 3 days at the max.
When I'm back, we'll go to the doctor, OK?
I could've forgotten the tools of the trade.
I see changes...
Son, you can't quarrel with God, remember...
He may not have a sense of humor.
We took you far away for you first Communion,
the times being hard, but didn't fall out with God.
Remember that, as we know no day or hour,
as the Bible says.
You must be a man!
Even if you're nobody here, you'll be somebody up there.
If you're aware you'll be somebody up there,
you'll be somebody here.
You got me confused...
These are not simple matters.
Are you packing up?
Off to Radziejowice to write in peace and quiet.
Look... who heard of state writers' retreats before the war?
- And today voilá! The powers that be... - What?
Aren't I saying it distinctly? That's what writers have secured...
Pack up, quick!
- What's that? - Not what but who.
The Pope. Our Polish Pope!
Aren't you ashamed?
You even put Stalin on your desk when he was welcome!
Expecting someone from the ministry,
I cut him out from a paper and put up.
- Those were the times that were! - A fence-sitter all your life!
Today this, tomorrow something else...
One day the 1st Sec. is wonderful, another day, a swine.
One day a Party meeting, tomorrow the Solidarity...
This is an example for your son?
How sad it is! And how pathetic!
I've always thought it the most important
to choose the lesser of two evils.
The way the world is, however,
you can't see the better of two goods.
Whereas there's a hell of a lot of evil.
You could always pick and choose in this rubbish heap...
For you. For the family... For our Kamil.
One had to get by.
After all, I didn't pick and choose this system.
Excuse me!
They wrote about you here. About your book.
Have you read it?
If it's the Tribune of the People, it can't be good.
Of course not... But listen up:
"This novel, which harms the commonly accepted order,
denying the benefits of the working people..."
What a load of rubbish...
That's good. They've let the public know
of the book outside censorship... Let them spit...
Everyone reads the opposite into it...
But I have something else. A wire sent for you. Here...
When the dawn of freedom glowed on the horizon,
you Mieczysław
established the Solidarity Union in your factory.
You said a thunderous NO! to the godless lie!
The most regrettable loss...
Comrade Mieczysław was the best speaker
in our local Party Com...
So you, his son, accept this tribute to his memory...
We were together with Jerzy
in the Snake Unit of the Home Army.
Jerzy?
That was his alias after St. George.
My deepest sympathy.
He promised to get copper sheet for the roof
in the Ministry. And now this...
We'll go on fighting, Father, till we get it.
I'll be much obliged.
And all the parishioners, of course. Let alone...
We're going to wash the Russian Soldier Monument.
The Security Service daub it with paint at night,
and the papers accuse us.
And you? Must be finishing another book, yes?
Not yet...
But the first one is being translated into Italian.
Could you publish another edition?
Why not? I'll publish it when I get paper...
Oh, hello!
Let me introduce the future star
of our independent literature!
A Swedish press correspondent.
Have a chat.
- Hello. - My pleasure...
You know what? How about in the corridor?
For a moment not to disturb them.
- After you. - Thank you.
- Would you like to earn money? - Well...
I have good contacts with a radio station.
Radio dramas are in great demand.
People want to know what's going on in the country.
I could think... Is it worthwhile? I mean the money?
And how! Especially for an author from here.
Given the dollar rate of exchange?
All the more reason to think it over...
Please do. I'll take care of the translation.
A gentlemen's agreement when it comes to the remuneration:
Fifty-fifty.
I don't get it. Besides what you'll receive for the translation?
I'm introducing you after all. You'll profit big from it later.
- I'll think it over. - Don't. Just write.
My calling card. First name basis?
- Kamil. - Andrzej. Here.
It's got the address and phone number.
- Here. - What's this?
My favorite chewing gum!
Chew and let not die.
- What did you say? - Chew and let not die.
- Good... wonderful! - What's wonderful?
What you've just said... An advertising quip!
Chew and let not die...
I'll sell it for big money in Sweden!
Of course. And also fifty-fifty.
- Long time no see. - I've been very busy.
Come on in.
You haven't brought your book?
- You didn't want to waste a copy? - It's been sold out.
When it's republished I'll show up at once.
Make yourself comfortable. I have to change for a very important meeting.
Wait, wait. You got any texts of radio dramas?
I'd like to see how they write now and what about...
- I could write something. - Great. Here's a stack of manuscripts,
radio dramas mostly. Mainly not produced,
rejected by censorship. You'd really like to?
That would be a sensation! An author of illicit publications!
I'd bend over backwards to have it OK'd.
- Found anything? - Some crap so far...
Do you know Pietras? Stanisław Pietras?
He left for Australia last year and asked for a political asylum.
I could have but don't remember.
Did he write radio plays?
He may have, but nothing was produced.
Otherwise I'd remember. Why do you ask?
Nothing in particular...
He once mentioned... but it must've been a screenplay.
What do we have here? Same as always: moonshine...
A coffin nail for the commies. They won't be back here.
- They won't dare. Right? - I guess so.
Let's make a date after November 11.
We're getting ready a new social-political weekly.
- You could be of use... - I have to go back.
Two days make no difference.
A big manifestation is being prepared...
I'm worried about Mom.
- She hasn't answer the phone. - Must be standing in lines.
She never ventures outside. She's lost steam since Father's death.
I must go back.
I'll help you.
What happened? Cleaning, Aunt?
You can call it that...
- Where have you been, poor boy? - In Gdańsk. What happened?
Now you're an orphan...
Your Mom closed her eyes
and you're all alone in this world now.
- You're late. - A little.
Someone from Sweden been waiting for you.
Thank you very much.
- May I take your bag? - Thank you.
- Hi. - Hi.
- Nobody's been tailing you? - No one suspicious-looking.
Better to meet here. I have good news.
The radio play has been aired and will be rerun.
This means a long-term cooperation. Whip up another one quick.
This is for you...
and set to...
- I prefer not to... - What do you mean?
- We must have a follow-through. - Is this it?
- There're many to fill in for you. - End to writing.
Why?
I've mulled over some matters and drawn conclusions.
Excuse me for a sec.
Good evening.
Welcome, welcome. I'm glad.
You had a radio play aired by a Swedish radio.
I listened and liked it. That you write about the opposition
not on your knees, though one of them.
Excuse me...
- What're you doing here? - What? I've read my poems.
- How was it? - Ask someone present...
The Council of State in line with the Constitution
introduced, at midnight, martial law nationwide.
Apocalypse Now
The Solidarity lives!
What's in the backpack?
What's this?
All right. Take him along!
Excuse me, do you know where he is?
- And who are you? - I'm his friend.
They've taken him away...
Black Marias all night long,
with women, who sang patriotic songs.
Without stopping eastward from the town!
What's east of Gołdap! The Soviets!
The Soviets.
You understand, friend - Siberia, gulag.
- Hi. - Have you heard?
May be a provocateur? To scare us.
The hell I know. How do you check out?
You know how many in these files are interned?
Everyone's in jail... The whole world is a buzz.
- I'm looking for Mareczek Kolenda. - Doing time at Białołęka.
You not interned?
I was away from home and am in hiding now.
Careful. Don't go to the Sejm. God forbid.
Security servicemen in cars, closely watching.
One of ours was caught, as he was putting down the car numbers.
Car numbers...
Get the fuck off, wacko. We're working here!
Take what is here. Don't push! It's not helping me!
Get off, lady. There are only eleven left!
Not enough for all of you!
The next delivery at Xmas next year if the Russkies don't enter!
On The Other Side, the first novel of a young poet!
On The Other Side, a debut by Kamil Nowak
- Hi. - Hi.
What's up?
To help the committee.
- Dear God, man, how much is it? - Easy come... One should help...
Folks have to toil three years for so much dough...
All right... Thanks...
A word in private. May I?
There's a bar nearby, where we can talk.
Send me an official summons and the number of the case.
You're well prepared... But it's not a questioning.
We'll talk about travels. An interesting topic.
About your travels far away for starters.
- I'm not leaving anywhere. - About radio plays now!
I haven't written any for the radio.
Not for ours. But for a Swedish - yes.
I have one in translation sent by friends from our post
- in Stockholm. - Why telling me all that?
As it happens, friends from an Australian post
have sent me a book, issued by a Polish publisher.
Short stories mostly, but radio plays too.
The writer's name is Pietras. He defected once.
What I noticed was a radio play from a Swedish station
bearing your name! That's what I wanted to say.
Why so silent? Sticky wicket.
There'll be a scandal when it goes public here.
And Pietras will claim his due. This is the end of your career!
You aren't stupid, no? Up against the wall!
So...
I've vowed to catch you...
Little did I suspect it'd be that easy.
Now I need one little signature on a declaration...
I'm not interested. Make it go public.
I don't want to be a writer. No signature to be signed.
Think it over. I give you a week.
This is the last time I'm being kind. You may go...
So long...
You have it good... Cause you're alone.
I live with my old man, who supports me.
Where could I to go?
I can't print my poems outside censorship
under Father's name, I mean I own, because they'll fire him.
And what then? We'll go under.
He's got so involved... but he's a decent man.
At the Polish Faculty,
he used to write poems... Quite good.
And then?
He graduated and had to hook up with something.
Finally he landed in the censorship.
The pay is handsome and an apartment soon...
And so it went...
But he never harmed any literature,
as he was assigned to the film section at first.
I have no other way but to sign with an alias
and nobody takes me for myself.
Don't worry. There's no collective responsibility yet.
Most important, you write fine poems.
- You really like them? - Certainly.
Fine poems. Daring form. I mean it.
Are we going to bed?
I can't.
Father would be furious if I stayed out for the night.
Stickler for decorum, he keeps a close eye on me.
But I can for a short time. For two fucks, maybe?
Will you forgive that I can't stay till the morning?
I have no alternative...
Hurry up.
- No. - Why?
I'd feel stark naked without glasses.
So? Making a stockpile in my place?
You didn't say I was to keep books.
You could've asked earlier?
Two hundred copies of your book.
There was no time to fix everything.
Only a part of them have covers.
We had a good warehouse, but the house owner got scared
and told us to remove them. So, where else?
- What am I to do with all of this? - Distribute them somehow.
- Why without covers? - A part of them has covers.
Come better times, so will covers. So, I'm off. Close the door.
Who's there?
What do we have here?
And you said you didn't want to be a writer, creep.
Just kidding.
Take the material evidence to the car!
May I smoke?
I promised to get you. I always keep my word.
Take him away.
Wait!
Tomorrow all papers will write about your
- cheating with radio plays! - Very well. I'll have peace of mind.
Urgent. Proceed toward the Copernicus Monument area.
Release Wałęsa
Send reinforcements.
Solidarity! Solidarity! Solidarity!
Kamil!
- Yours? - Oh, no, a borrowed one.
- You did time with criminals? - Yeah...
- Tough? - Let's go.
Take this.
- What is it? - My novel.
You wrote a second novel in the can?
- Not second but first. - How come?
My first. When you've read it, you'll understand.
A Thief of Words
Cast of Characters
Subtitles by Jerzy Siemasz