Zieja (2020)

Zieja: Directed by Robert Glinski. With Andrzej Seweryn, Mateusz Wieclawek, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Slawomir Orzechowski. The 70s. A Security Service Major wishes to “buy” gullible priest Zieja and turn him into an agent who will discredit the opposition. The priest’s interrogations become a natural pretext for a journey through the history of Poland in the twentieth century: from the Bolshevik war of 1920, through World War II, up to modern times. It turns out that the seemingly naive Father Zieja is actually a clever rebel. The world he lived in was unacceptable to him. He was ahead of his time. A lonely journey without a passport to Rome in the 1930s turned into thoughts of a European Union. Performing the Catholic funeral rites of a woman who committed suicide (during the 20s of the past century) was an protest against the church’s rules. Proclaiming the slogan “never kill anyone, not even your enemies” during the Second World War, was against patriotic mythologies and foretold future pacifist attitudes. Zieja puts his life and freedom on the line in the name of moral, ethical and religious values in which he believed. The film “Zieja” is rooted in the movement of Polish Catholicism, which is based on high ethical standards, poverty and tolerance, as well as respect and love for other human beings.

“After having gone to see Tenet (2020) the day before I spoke to a friend on the phone about what other films were coming out. Getting told that the local Odeon were doing a one-off screening of a interesting-sounding Polish Drama later that day,I got set to meet Zieja.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNote:Some spoilers in review.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eView on the film:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn opposing sides not only round the table, but also morally, Andrzej Seweryn and Zbigniew Zamachowski set the screen ablaze in Zieja and Grosickiu0026#39;s interrogation sequences, thanks to the stamping of feet frustration Zamachowski gives Grosicki being counted in this psychological duel with a upright, quiet confidence Seweryn has beaming from every word of Zieja.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA important figure sadly not that well known outside of Poland, the screenplay by Wojciech Lepianka spans a impressively compact bio-pic on Jan Zieja, going right back in flashbacks to Ziejau0026#39;s involvement in the Warsaw Uprising,to the 70u0026#39;s,where Ziejau0026#39;s liberal liturgical catches the attention of the Communists secret services.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBased around the interrogation with Zieja and Grosicki, Lepiankau0026#39;s consistent move to flashbacks gives what should be the centrepiece of the title a stop-start atmosphere, where just as tensions are starting to build, Lepianka steps back and enters a flashback.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRolling up the opening sequence to Grosicki being a slob in bed, director Robert Glinski u0026amp; cinematographer Witold Plociennik firmly place Zieja on the other side with graceful close-ups and splintered shadows casting a spiritual aura on Zieja.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClosely working with editor Ewa Smal, Glinski stylishly links Ziejau0026#39;s experience at the interrogation table with the horrors heu0026#39;s faced in life,via pristine match-cuts linking the flashbacks and the present into each other,along with eye-catch screen-wipes performed by Zieja walking across the screen to deliver a sermon.”