"Polish Television and the Ministry of Culture present a film" "Produced by Akson Studio and Apple Film Production and co-produced by Polish Television" "SOLIDARITY, SOLIDARITY..." "Andrzej?" "Yeah?" "Hi, Marek, my man." "At the airport;" "I just got back." "Never again to the Schechelles." "They said the hotel was five star but the air-conditioning kept cutting off." "The place was full of German riffraff sucking down beer and watching football." "I'm going to Kazimierz for a few days to chill out." "What important project?" "Sure thing." "Is it that urgent?" "Man, I haven't had lunch yet." "Okay, I guess." "Fine, I'll be right there." "Hello, Majka?" "It's Marek." "I'm calling because there's a project we need to do..." " but since you aren't answering..." " What project?" "I'm not answering because I'm bummed out." "Nothing happened." "Has anything ever happened in this country?" "Grab any paper you like and see how many times women are mentioned on a page, and how many times men." "I'm bummed by the general situation of women." "What's the project?" "Why not over the phone?" "Okay, right..." "When?" "I can't;" "I haven't had lunch yet." "That's different." "The family pack, please." "Yes, the usual place." "And please hurry." "Thanks." "Tiger Woods!" "Manual respect." " What's this project?" " A very serious one." "Here she is." "Why's this macho sexist here?" "Hi, Marek, dear." "If this is some feminist project, than count me out." " It's not about men or women." " What then?" "Solidarity." "What?" "!" "Oh, man, about Solidarity?" "I just got back from Polish Television." "They're preparing a series of ten-minute films for the 25th anniversary of Solidarity's founding." "They've invited the top producers to get the best screenwriters and directors in the country." "The money's lousy, and it's not going to be a masterpiece, but it's a prestigious deal and we have to be in on it." "But, man, what am I supposed to write about Solidarity?" "It doesn't inspire me at all, man." "Me neither." "The plot won't last more than three minutes." "Be open, you two." "You think up commercials for mayonnaise." "You'll come up with something here too." "Write a film about how Solidarity affected our lives, shit like that..." " It didn't affect mine." " Mine even less." "But who says you have to believe it?" "Use your heads; imagine how this meeting would've looked if not for the whole Solidarity brouhaha." " Why so sad, Andrzej?" " I bought new shoes and they hurt." " There's a screenplay to do." " I don't give a shit;" "they won't give me a passport." " Where to?" " A pilgrimage to the Vatican." " But you're a non-believer." " More in one way, you know." " What about?" " The Battle of Lenino." "Who's directing?" "Speak of the devil." "Okay, boys, I've got five minutes." "I have to go make dinner." "We've got a chance to make a high-budget film about Lenino." "Nothing's going to ruin my mood." "I bought some boneless beef." "Money's no object." "You two should do it." "About Lenino?" "Montecassino, okay, but Lenino?" "If we do Lenino, then they'll let us do Montecassino." "We have a gentlemen's agreement." "This is a great opportunity." "I've got a child and a husband." "They're more important to me." "I beg your pardon!" "I never would've been a homebody." "That conditions in our lives have changed isn't due to Solidarity." "The same thing would've happened without Walesa." "It was the pope and Reagan who put the squeeze on the Soviets." "The pope was the hand, Reagan the pin, but Walesa was the grenade." "What?" "Nothing." "We have to be in this project." "It's a very prestigious deal." "Otherwise they'll say we were the only ones not invited." "It's only ten damn minutes." "What's the problem?" "Look, man, name me one thing we owe to Solidarity, and I'm in." "Just one thing, and I'm in too." "Sushi and a family pack?" "Sushi..." "Stop snoring." "Why are you waking him up?" "He isn't snoring." "You told me to check if he was asleep." "Because he wasn't asleep then, you idiot, and now he is." "If he hadn't been asleep, I wouldn't have woken him, would I?" "Turn the light off." " You were supposed to turn it off." " It won't turn off." "Give me your knife." "What do you need it for?" " First give me back my comb." " Are you going to comb your hair?" "Your armpits, I guess." "Good evening." "Tickets, please." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Good night." " Fuck, it's just papers." " Shipyard strike leaflets." "You're unlucky in this system." "I should stay away from you." "Hello." "Have you read that already?" "Why don't we swap?" "Born loser." "Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?" "I said that, but I meant you." "In any case he was unlucky." "He didn't until you got involved, because you're the loser." "What are you staring at?" "Looking for trouble?" "I'm looking for a dog." " A dog?" " Yeah, a dog." "Skinny and wearing a coat." " You took the Trybuna too?" " It's not the Trybuna." "Are you going to feed this to the herring in the bay?" "What's the next station?" "There aren't enough for everybody." "Give 20 to every section." " We're running out of paper." " The refinery doesn't know about the postulates." "Same thing with Gdynia, with the trams and all..." "A fucking plane?" "Let's get the hell out of here." "Secret police forgeries." "Nobody will buy this." "Not here at the shipyard, but in other plants nobody knows a thing." "Not in the city either." "Even our families at the gate." "Let's hang the postulates on the gate." "Everyone will be able to read what this strike's all about." "Let's do it." "First class plywood, Siberian spruce." "All 21 points ought to fit." "Write them, but clearly and no mistakes." "We have to write lengthwise or they won't fit." "...Disturbing social and political order in Poland will not be tolerated." "On this fundamental issue, no one can count on concessions, compromises, or even hesitation." "Socialism is inseparably linked to Poland's reason of state." "The acceptance of free trade unions independent of party and employers." "The right to strike and the safety of strikers and supporters is guaranteed." "The following be returned to their previous rights:" "People laid off in '70 and '76, students expelled for their beliefs and free all political prisoners." "Compensate strikers for the strike period on basis of vacation pay from the Central Trade Union Council Fund." "Introduce principles for selecting managers on basis of qualifications and not party membership and abolish the privileges of the police, the secret police and the party apparatus." "Raise the base pay of every worker by 2 thousand zlotys a month as compensation for the price increases imposed so far." "Ensure a sufficient number of places in nurseries and pre-schools for children of working women." "Reduce the waiting time for an apartment." "Abide by the rights of freedom of speech, press and publication in Poland's constitution, do not repress independent publishers and make the mass media available to representatives of all faiths." "We didn't draw up the list, we were just the scribes who wrote it down." "Without these boards, the strike would have been totally different." "They built awareness in hundreds of thousands of people who came to the shipyard." "After we hung them, people knew what we were fighting for what the postulates were, what the shipyard workers and the people who worked with them were demanding." "The board with the 21 postulates written on them turned out to be a very important step on the road to freedom in Poland because they were drawn up and written by workers and the intelligentsia." "We won because we were united." "After the agreement was signed the boards were first taken to the new headquarters of Solidarity." "Someone then had an excellent idea, to make copies of them." "When martial law was declared, the secret police destroyed the copies thinking they were the originals." "And so they survived until we gained our freedom." "In 2003 they were added to the world cultural heritage list in a UNESCO catalogue titled "Memory of the world."" "It also includes manuscripts by Chopin and Copernicus." "The table at the back is where the postulates were negotiated." "To Wlodek Szymanowski" "Apuan Alps, Tuscany." "August 1980." "This is the news on Radio Levigliani." "The attempt to rescue three Polish cavers trapped in the Antro del Corchia cave has entered its third day." "The successive landslide that trapped the Poles was caused by an exlosion at a nearby quarry." "Well?" "They're drilling, can't you hear?" " But can you see anything?" " Yeah, I can." "Are you saying something or not?" "Why the rush?" "You're a caver." "A cave is your home;" "this is where life is." "This is where life is." "How long is this going to take?" "About five to eight hours." " Hey, boys!" " Why are you yelling?" "Give us what you've got." "I'm sending down food and the latest news from Poland." "Carbide, canned food, fuel, a tape recorder..." " Got it?" " Yeah." "And a bottle of wine from the Italians." "The whole world loves us now." " Supper." " Coming." "What is it?" " Fucking caviar." " White or black?" "Green." "Quiet." "Striking shipyard workers signed an agreement with the government." " What?" " Quiet." "Who's this electrician, Lech Walesa?" "Hey, historian, what sort of last name is that?" "Maybe it's Walezy?" "Or Valois, a descendant of the French kings." "A simple electrician wouldn't have such an imagination." "I'm an electrician." "You got something against my imagination?" "In theory, no." "What about in reality?" "Cut it out, guys." "Do you?" "!" "All right, let's try." "They get us out of this cave in a year, let's say." " We return to Poland, right?" " Right." "To what sort of Poland?" "Can you imagine that?" " Sure." " Let's have it then." "First a raise, so I can support my family." "Second, ham in the stores as well all sorts of goods:" "TVs, bikes, refrigerators, and soda in cans." " Are you nuts?" " Me or you?" " You." " What's next?" "After two years I can afford to buy a car then I start building a house." "Is that it?" "Yeah." "What else?" "A full belly and a car?" "That's everything, huh?" "Yeah." " What about the rest?" " What rest?" " Are you kidding?" " No." "What about real news in the papers, on TV and in the streets?" "Or freedom?" "No more secret police?" "And history?" "Ever heard of Katyn, dumbass?" "Dumbass?" "Dumbass." "Fuck!" "Let him go!" "Let him go!" "You can have your bikes, cars, and soda cans!" "The whole world admires us..." "but in here..." "I've heard... of Katyn, and it's important to me but family first." "First we have to clean up all the shit." " What shit?" " The Communist crap." "How do we do that?" "Got any ideas?" "My dad's secretary at his plant." "What am I supposed to do?" "Pawka Morozow?" " I'm asking." "Pawka Morozow?" " Talk to him." "Explain to your dad that the jerk made the wrong choice in life and now he's screwed." "I'm supposed to teach my father?" "It's my dad who teaches me." "I'll talk to mine." " But he's dead." " I'll go to the cemetery." "Know what I think, boys?" "What?" " He thinks?" " What do you think?" "Stachu, what do you think?" "Here in this spaghetti bender cave, we're just like our Poland." "As smart as she is, as stupid, as brave, and as cowardly as she is." "As good as she is..." " And as bad?" " Yeah..." "Shake?" "Dad..." "Dad..." "Janusz, I'm going to the store." "Look at you, making a laughing stock of yourself as usual." "What the hell good is all this stuff?" "Boxes, saucers!" "Start earning some money!" "I have to do everything!" "Capitalist!" "What do you think of the strike going on now in our region?" "Unnecessary." "It won't do any good anyway." " Turn it off." " Turn it off yourself." " Are you going to turn it off?" " No." " I spent it all on the Polonez." " You know me;" "I'll pay it back." "I won't sell a thing without the money." "Take my advice and throw out those damn injection molding machines." " You sound like my wife." " Like a friend; sell them." " Hello, is Janusz home?" " What do you think?" " Hi." " Hi." "I'll pay you back as soon as I sell them." "How many have you sold so far?" "33" "It was a small store." "In Gdansk they've ordered these, with the pope." "That's some sort of collateral." " Cigarette?" " Sure." "What's wrong...?" " Hello, Janusz." " Hello." " What'll it be today?" " Postcards, 500 of them." "Not those, the ones with the pope, please." " Five hundred." " I'll see if I have that many." "Yes, got them." "Fixed itself." "Thanks." "Satisfied?" "This is the last of our money." "What are you going to eat now, ballpoint pens?" "I work my hands to the bone." "I stand in line for hours while you assemble ballpoint pens." "Who needs them?" " What's all this for?" " For shit." "Janusz!" "Turn on the TV, quickly!" " What's wrong?" " Come on and turn it on." "Channel one." "Janusz, he's using our pen!" "Leszek, Leszek!" "Janusz sold over 30,000 pens until December 13, 1981." "After that, he suspended his business for a few years." "Do you know if trains are running to the shore?" "They were yesterday." " Are you going to the shore?" " Yes." " Are you going there too?" " Yes." " What have you got there?" " Gasoline." " Flammable materials on the train?" " I have no choice." " You don't have any baggage." " Short trip." "You don't either." "Can I sit with you?" "It's seems we're the only ones on this train." "Yeah, sure." "Got any beer?" " For courage?" " No, to kill time." "Time must drag traveling with that gasoline." "I'm sure it does." "Where are you going?" "To Gdansk." "You?" "Gdansk too." "Seems we're going to the same place, but for different reasons." "Tell me the truth." "What's the gasoline for?" "There's no gasoline at the shore." " That's true, but it's no reason..." " It's a very important reason." "A rare and inspiring book, "A Minor Apocalypse."" "Especially the main story line with the main character looking for..." " gasoline to set fire to himself." " You like it too?" " Tell me what's eating you." " It's not eating you?" " I don't have a canister of gas." " It just worked out that way." " But you can tell me." " What's there to say?" "You know, if the climate were different, a lot hotter then this Communism would be easier to take." " You like it hot?" " I love it." " Fire?" " Yes, fire's a metaphysical thing." "For fuck's sake!" "Metaphysical?" "!" "Ever seen burning Buddhist monks?" "Or Jan Palach in Prague?" "Did you see him fry himself?" "A metaphysical thing?" "It's hurts." "It has to hurt." "It has to hurt!" " They're very brave people." " Of course they're brave." " Don't you see life as beautiful?" " Brief moments are." "I'll tell you something." "It's very beautiful." "Our shipyard workers are beautiful." "Yes, they are really risking life." "They have families, but take risks;" "that's the true measure of risk." "Are you telling me that the shipyard is surrounded?" "Yesterday it wasn't." " Are you going there?" " But you can come up to the gate?" "Yesterday you still could." "A group of observers went in." "Are you an observer too?" "Yes, I'm an observer." "Look, tell me straight up." "What's the gasoline for?" " I don't thin you'll believe me." " Why not?" "I'm listening." "You know, my wife was on Hel and on her way back she ran out of gas in Gdansk." "And there's no gas anywhere, so..." "That's version one for idiots." "I'm waiting for the next." "I said you wouldn't believe me." " Because you're not married." " How do you know?" "No wedding ring." "That's true, I've never had one." "I'll tell you." "I'm goint to the shipyard to help to try and keep everything from spinning out of control so that they don't let themselves be provoked, understand?" "We want it calm, with no sudden moves, nice a quiet." " Guys like you scare me." " Will the commies fold?" " Nobody knows, even they don't." " You see..." "But you won't make them fold, that's for sure." "But I'm just a little person." "I can't take this." "All the more reason it's not worth doing it." "You have your whole life ahead of you." "Everything will work our, you'll see." "It always works out; it's always worth it, always." "It's always worth having hope, because hope is always there." "Even if it's only this much." "This little amount is still hope." " I'm Tomek..." " Filip." "Filip, I've been waiting so long." "This is crazy, there's no gas anywhere." "The hotel's full of spooks, so I had to sleep in the car." "Where's the gas canister?" "How can I say this so it sounds believable?" "See that guy over there?" "Yes." "He convinced me to throw the canister out the window." "He spoke so beautifully of hope." "The announcer is talking about the gathering of Warsaw Pact forces on the Polish-Soviet border in December 1980." "That winter, the hit song in Poland was "Will they enter or not?"" "The chorus was a question we all asked ourselves." "Would it come to armed intervention against Solidarity?" "At the time I was shooting an English-Italian biographical film about John Paul II, the newly-elected pope." "We had an incident with the soldiers playing extras." "Some of the soldiers were to dress in Soviet uniforms and the others in German, playing the part of prisoners." "Everyone wanted to be the Germans." "My assistant tried to clear it up." "What's going on, gentlemen?" "What is it, sergeant?" " The men are scared, understand?" " What are they afraid of?" "That if they duck in the alley to pee, they'll get beaten up." " What are we going to do?" " I don't know; talk to them." "Attention, gentlemen!" "This is not a regular film." "This is a film about our pope." "Please, won't you put on the costumes for our pope?" "Let's go." "When we started shooting the scene with the Soviet and Polish army entering Krakow in 1945, a huge crowd began gathering in the square uneasy at the sight of the tanks." "The authorities in Krakow ordered me to make a statement on local television to calm everyone down." "I was to say that it was only a film." "Earlier, no information about the film had appeared in any media." "These will be scenes, perhaps the biggest in the whole film showing Krakow just after the war in 1945 after being freed after the army had entered." "Shooting in the market square went smoothly, except for the last minute ban by the authorities on painting Soviet stars on the tanks." "Half-way through the scene, a police car with siren blaring arrived and called to me over the loudspeaker." "I was certain the filming was over." "Hello, Krzysztof?" "Am I interrupting?" "Who's this?" " Am I interrupting?" " You have no idea how much." "There are several thousand people here who don't know what's wrong." "Why are you calling on the police line?" "That's how they connected me." "I'm calling from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw." "Our satellites sent us a picture of tanks in Krakow's market square." "I came to ask if it was an armed intervention, but they say no." "They connected me with you because supposedly you're shooting a film." "Yes, a biography about John Paul, "From a Far Country."" "From that moment in December 1980, I know that even when it's cloudy some satellite up there's always keeping an eye on us." ""From a Far Country" premiered at Castelgandolfo just after the attempt on the pope's life, but before General Jaruzelski did the work of the Warsaw Pact forces by declaring martial law in Poland." "The US nerwork, NBC, aired the film just before Christmas in the memorable year, 1981." "The story of the pope and the story of Solidarity became in the eyes of viewers, one real-life story." "I said in the first days that we'd win, and we have; that's the truth." "At this dramatic moment in Poland's history, I am announcing that the National Council has declared martial law in the entire country..." "Poland has not yet perished While we still live." "What the foe took by force We will take back with the sword." "March, march Dabrowski From Italian land to Poland." "Under your leadership We will unite with the nation." "I have no time for you;" "I haven't see you for so long, mother." "Wait a bit longer, and grow up;" "I'll tell you everything later." "Of the days filled with hope and conversations of these nights barely slept and our hearts strongly beating." "Of these people who felt they were finally at home fighting together for today, and tomorrow, and you." "This is my life from its inception;" "I was once a student, though you think its deception." "The days of Gomulka, horror and the darkest arts and that is when my story starts." "In '68 we students and writers, marched alone like freedom riders." "Workers our brothers, supported the Reds turned against us and feathered their beds." "My dear comrades..." "They expelled me from school and put me in jail for a year but Poland made a step toward freedom very clear." "Two years later, workers were striking at the Gdansk shipyard and in the street marching." "Striking against food price increases the Party's in flames and the shots are the police's." "Tanks in the streets, wounded and killed but this time students aren't really thrilled." "The intelligentsia thinks, it's not our fight the regime wins again breaking law with all its might." "The '70s, for a moment hope;" "Maybe Gierek'll change things, we hope." "Well then, will you help?" "But once again it was just BS, things turned into a bigger mess." "Workers strike in Radom and Ursus the Reds live high, while all the cops beat us and put down demonstrations." "Jails are filling, but the wind of freedom's blowin' in the nation." "More and more people wanting to fight not afraid of power, the country's seen the light." "The first real opposition:" "Celinski, Macierewicz, Michnik and Kuron." "The Workers' Defense Committee is born Andzejewski, Baranczak blow freedom's horn." "Professor Kolakowski, Lipinski, and Zieja, priest not pope." "Poles at last together, and there's hope." "But the government people say halt, jails full but in stores just salt." "The Committee raises money for persecuted families, oh no!" "Olszewski, Sila-Nowicki defend them pro bono." "The courts hand out sentences, long everyone who demostrates is wrong." "You once talked of how censored press you smuggled it was hard, and how you struggled." "You carried money for those arrested." "They caught you, they cuffed you, man you were tested." "A year in prison, but first they beat ya - ow!" "But you didn't feel a loser as you do right now." "Where did all your Solidarity go?" "And those ideals you used to know?" "Your fight was dignified and deft." "Now slogans are all we have left." "The commies in power started to fear us simple, common people, now there were a lot of us." "'78 and citizens' rights become the watch word Switon, Gwiazda, Borusewicz, Walentynowicz the opposition goes forward." "Lech Walesa, with them communion puts together the first free trade union." "All Poles are finally together, but fot the regime, still nether." "People hang tough and feel stronger Reds hit back, but not much longer." "The country awakens, the end of disparity and then we have it, Solidarity." "Your attention, please, the Solidarity train to Gdansk calling at Radom, Szczecin, and Jastrzebie will be delayed." "The delay may increase or decrease." "We apologize for any inconvenience." "Gdansk August 1980, Anna Walentynowicz is fired." "And that is how a strike is inspired." "And so begins Solidarity's landslide." "Everyone in Poland is like a family with pride." "In Szczecin, Katowice, strikes begin in Jastrzebie and Gdynia workers march therein." "All of Poland in battle formation led by Lech Walesa and his strike organization." "Gwiazda, Pienkowska, Lis and Mazowiecki Wielowiejski, Sila-Nowicki, and Karol Modzelewski." "We want bread and freedom, and empty the jails." "Street fights, and squad cars, it's runnin' off the rails." "The Solidarity train, calling at Wroclaw, Lublin, Katowice, and Koszalin is still delayed." "Shipyard workers demanded price hikes be repealed and better pay for workers, we thought the Reds would never yield." "Eliminate censorship and improve health care and free political prisoners, yeah, be fair." "Free trade unions, legitimization the right to strike and demonstration." "21 yesses, the country's on strike the Reds had no choice, signed a paper they didn't much like." "An independent, self-governing union named Solidarity hat's off to you and all your verity." "The start of the end, the regime's lost hope and Poles take strength from the words of the pope." "Together for the first time in who knows how long the last time we'd hear such a sweet song." "Where did all your Solidarity go?" "And those ideals you used to know?" "Your fight was dignified and deft..." "Now slogans are all we have left." "Solidarity won, a dream came true but the joy went fast, the commies weren't through." "Jaruzelski in secret with his hard-set jaw started getting ready to impose martial law." "In '81 they struck, 13 December;" "surely was a date to remember." "The national council declared martial law in the entire country effective last night at midnight." "They wanted to destroy what we'd built together..." "Army, tanks, and tear gas, but we'd broken the tether." "The locked up 10,000 of us in prison and dissolved all the unions and associations that had arisen." "They militarized workplaces, more often than not and scores of other people, they simply just shot." "At night they arrested every union go-getter mass arrests in the nation didn't look any better." "The Solidarity train is arriving at the station." "Refusing an order, your life it might cost many Polish families mourned members they'd lost." "I was charged with trying to aid sedition a quick sentence then, three years for opposition." "Even then we never felt like losers there were so many of us against our accusers." "Where did all your Solidarity go?" "And those ideals you used to know?" "Your fight was dignified and deft..." " now slogans are all we have left." " That's all we have left!" "A lot changed in the next few years the sun shone on Poland's valley of tears." "One nine eight nine, a very cool date the first free elections, I couldn't wait." "Walesa president and Mazowiecki premier my opposition friends making a political career." "Pals who had fought a foe so sinister now each one took over power became a Minister." "I got an offer to be a diplomat and do insider trading, but I wasn't into that." "I realized that something had died Solidarity was gone, can't be denied." "Those who once fought for a just cause now fought for position, and making laws." "They started defaming and fighting over money gone was the just cause, it's about power, sonny." "I didn't want any part of this BS so I got off the power train fast, I confess." "Time doesn't heal, I don't what I fought for... don't know what the game was, but I feel like a loser." " Where did all your Solifarity go?" " What?" " And ideals you used to know?" " Where?" "Your fight was dignified and deft..." " now slogans are all we have left." " That's all we have left!" " Where did all your Solifarity go?" " What?" " And ideals you used to know?" " Where?" "Your fight was dignified and deft now slogans are all we have left." " Where did all your Solifarity go?" " What?" " And ideals you used to know?" " Where?" "Your fight was dignified and deft now slogans are all we have left." "The file." " Okay, go on." " What if it's not him?" "You must be kidding;" "I'd recognize that scumbag in the dark." "The name fits too." " Jasik's a very common name." " But what have you got to lose?" "If you don't get the money in this bank, you won't get it anywhere." " Unless I rob one." " Unless you rob one." "If it's not him, I won't accomplish anything here... and if it is, seeing me after all these years may be unpleasant." "Of course it may; a few of your friends wouldn't shake his hand." " If it's him." " Yes, I'll wait in the car." "Go!" "Fuck you, old man." " Hello." " Hello." "The director is waiting." "He agreed to see you although he's very busy." " He's here." " Thank you." "A warm welcome." "Please come in." "Mountains may forever stay apart, but people never do." "Who would've expected this?" "It's been a long time." "It's even strange that you made your way up here." "I have a couple of loan officers downstairs who do these things." " Exactly." " But I remember you right away." "I've been rejected twice." "So you thought you'd see me, huh?" "Use the old connection?" "Because I owe you something?" "No, no..." "You're right, and I'm glad." "It means you don't hold it against me." "Those were the times then, now they're different." "What sentence did I call for?" "Seven years?" "How long did you serve?" "Three." "So, you never returned to your job, became disaffected with politics..." " and now want to try business?" " More or less." "Very good; politics is a filthy business." "When Rakowski ordered the standard to be carried out I went followed..." "the standard of course." "That was the last they saw of me." "Best decision I've ever made." " And at the right moment too." " Exactly." "The best part is that I owe it all to you guys." "You fought for democracy, while I put you into prison." " Drink?" " No, thank you." "So, we've got our democracy, eh?" "Everyone has an equal opportunity, but some make better use of it and others don't." "What's more, sometimes those who won out on this democracy deal aren't those who fought for it." "Where's the justice in that?" " Is it some sort of moral law?" " That's what it looks like." "I think that these days one has to know how to keep things separate." "Democracy, knowledge, intelligence aren't moral categories." "Even the law is morally indifferent." "As a lawyer I can allow myself to believe such a paradox." "I don't agree with you completely." "Democracy is just that, democracy." "It needs more time." "How much more time do you need?" "What do you have from democracy?" "A mess?" "Fanatics in government?" "Our nation is too young for democracy." "Poles are good only when something needs to be wrecked." "It's why they go to vote, not to be for something, but to be against." "Government change, that's why there's an opposition like in other countries." "Know what?" "I think it was better for guys like you under Communism." " What kind of guys?" " Less resourceful." "I doubt if you'll make it." "Business is a jungle." "You have to be well prepared, and not only on the merits." "You need a certain character." "Most of all be under no illusions." "In the States, when we hospitable Poles invited ourselves for dinner there was a saying:" ""There is no free lunch."" "That's the way it is, things aren't free." "So you're dissuading me from trying?" "I'll tell you, even now as a rabid capitalist I still hold left wing views." "I swear." "Just think, Communism in and of itself wasn't bad it all depended on who was in power." "Tito, for example, was a statesman." "Did anyone complain?" "No." "When he died, all of Yugoslavia came out to see his casket go by." "There were also crowds when Bierut died." "That's what I mean, we don't have any authority figures left." "Nobody respects anybody these days." "How's your wife, the actress?" " Ex-wife." " I'm sorry." "A marvelous woman; we all envied you, I swear." "That spook who took your pictures for the file was a real artist." "We couldn't tear our eyes away." "We were all in love with your wife." "She went abroad, but didn't make a career there." "A pity." " Smoking again?" " Because I'm upset." "I don't know why I told him you'd gone abroad to live." "Are you nuts?" "I still work in the theater." "He hasn't got time to go to the theater." "Why aren't you saying anything?" "He has to look over the business plan." "You know, I'm still afraid of him." "The short story of one sign." "Poland has not yet perished While we still live." "What the foe took by force We will take back with the sword." "March, march Dabrowski From Italian land to Poland." "The Regional Court in Warsaw, with members as present, rules to register the independent self-governing trade union..." "I'm self-governing and independent." "Solidarity!" "Solidarity!" "It multiplies and becomes the extreme." "We have to say, "Enough."" "We must prevent and block the road to confrontation that the leaders of Solidarity have openly announced." "We must declare today when we know the date is close..." "I go underground." "We start all over again." "We win." "I'm not needed." "The starting price is one thousand zlotys." "What am I bid?" "A very attractive price given the historical value of the exhibit." "One thousand zlotys." "Who'll give more?" "In that case..." "There we are!" "A thousand zlotys, any more?" "I encourage you all to bid." "A thousand zlotys once, twice, three times..." "Thank you, the exhibit has been sold." "Come with me to Gdansk." "Are you crazy?" "I'm serious;" "you've got a camera." "I'll introduce you to people who know him and show you places." "You'll shoot photos of people, places, everything, whatever..." "Then we'll put on an exhibit." "Where?" "My place, I have a big room." "Lots of pictures will fit." "Coming?" "Let's go." "Man of Iron" "Mr. President, 25 years ago you sent me a very moving telegram." "Happy name's day, dear creator of "Man of Marble" and "Man of Iron."" "Now I hope you make "Man of Hope," Lech Walesa." "Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwilowicz and I would like to ask you what sort of hope you had in mind." "Solidarity had won you climbed the gate and said to us all..." ""I told you we would win and we have."" "We put it in our film, "Man of Iron."" "What did you want to see in a film we were to have made about hope?" "When we celebrate Solidarity's 50th anniversary, we'll have people whose hopes have been fulfilled." "Gone will be this generation of quarrelsome and envious people who missed the boat and only now understand why Moses led the Jews around the desert for 40 years." "To give the warrior generation, which wasn't suited for freedom time to die out." "We have the same thing, except no desert or Moses." "But Krystyna Janda wrote in her book that she became a citizen because she came to know Solidarity." "At times I realize that if I hadn't met those people and hadn't read the right books I would've remained a cretin, as you wrote in your book who knew nothing about anything." "Besides that, it's a different life here on the coast." "You knew me back then." "Only Maciek tried to convince me to return to a normal life back to making films and an official life." "Life here, being an activist, means civil death." "You are beyond the law, even though you don't break it." "Sometimes it's very hard." "But when you get used to it, it's even fun sometimes." "And besides, you meet and work with wonderful people." "You enjoy making fools of the undercover cops." "And besides, it's damn nice not being afraid of anything." "When you're in the slammer you think, "What can they do to me?"" "After all, they can't lock me up." "I think that's exactly what we got from Solidarity." "I suddenly felt that "Man of Iron" wouldn't disappear because the authorities shelve it." "I knew that the Solidarity union, which you created would not allow our film to be destroyed." "Feeling this powerful force behind me was beautiful." "The only time in my life." "The preceding generation gave a Poland that had been betrayed a Poland with an imposed political and economic Communist system." "That generation would often say if you only get the chance, wrench our country from the Soviets take it to freedom and normality." "When I spoke of hope, I thought that you, who made such beautiful films, would tell us how to do it." "I became a senator because you called on me, because I thought if I made such a film, I too had to bear the consequences in my life." "Mr. President, don't you think that the film "Man of Iron" is the film that could be named "Man of Hope?"" "Didn't that film give hope?" "Wasn't what you did then at the shipyard the moment of hope, of an opening for some sort of possibility?" "Society wasn't prepared." "There were no elites to worry about the role of the failed shipyard for it had to fail; the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact as well." "And so people tried to find their place in this new reality." "Some are responsible for helping others, but there are problems." "Yes, but Mr. President, you spoke of a person of conscience." " We need to build such a person." " Yes, with values of conscience." "That a person of conscience is a European, educated and young." "Maybe I was a bit conceited thinking that I could do it." "That I wouldn't listen to you and do it myself." "That I knew how to do it." "But, gosh, I missed something." "Maybe it didn't work because you can't build capitalism..." " from the top down." " But you said it nicely..." ""We marched through bread to freedom." "But how do we get to bread through freedom?"" "Beautifully said." " Remember, we've lost the economy." " Exactly." "Worse, we turned west, and the West took care of its business." "It no longer needed to arm itself, and could start dealing..." "But here's your answer to why I didn't make the film." "They sent me three screenplays and wanted to send more." "But each one presented Solidarity as divided and shattered." "Perhaps it had won, but Solidarity lead to a situation that hadn't been anticipated." "Could I have made such a film?" "I made two such films and wanted to make "Man of Hope."" "I will persist with that I said at the begining." ""Man of Iron" could just as well have been called "Man of Hope."" "That is the film." "When I think of August 1980 when I think of those months until martial law was imposed and particularly the beginning, August and the following months I've never experienced such a period of hope as I did then." "Somebody tore down my poster." "I pasted it here, then somebody tore it off, so I let it be." "Reinstate Anna Walentynowicz, plus a raise of 1,000 with an inflation allowance..." "Those were the three things on the poster." "Then the boys came to work and I told them that we were going to Section K-3, where they were to start." "I took our poster out of the window." "Waiting for us there, all prepared were these placards." "So I put the poster up and went into the directors' offices." "A crowd started to gather;" "we were waiting for Walesa." "We waited for Lech and elected our strike committee." "I looked out and saw him jumping over the fence." "He jumped the gate because he'd been laid off." "When he showed up, things were fine." "When he showed up, he said a few words because none of us were any good at making speeches." "If someone had told me 35 years ago that I'd be living in this country in Europe, sitting here with you, I never would've believed it." "If I had, I would've been the happiest man in the galaxy." " Maciej!" "Maciej!" " It was hard work, sure enough." "They were difficult, grueling talks, requiring a huge effort." "They concerned very important issues." "We talked as Poles should talk to each other." "Are the documents ready?" "Let's sign them." "Leszek!" "Leszek!" "Leszek!" "Just like I said the first day, we'd win, and we have." "That's the truth." "God bless you;" "I'm going to work." "See you later." "Thank you!" "Thank you!" "Leszek!" "Leszek!" "Leszek!" "Thank you!" "Thank you!" "When Solidarity was born, I was seven years old." "I lived with my father in Nowa Huta." "I remember how dad walked me to school every day." "To get there we had to cross a wide road with lots of traffic." "Dad used to say that Communism was like that road, dangerous." "From our kitchen window we could see a huge boat-shaped church." "The ark." "Dad would take me there every Sunday." "During Mass, people would raise their fingers in the victory sign." "Some of them cried." "I was a little bored." "I couldn't sleep at night; there was radio static in the other room." "Various people would meet in our kitchen for important talks." "They called it a conspiracy." "Once my father explained what solidarity is." "Solidarity is when you think not only of your own good but also of the good of others." "I wanted to show solidarity and not interrupt their conspiracy." "From then on, when I couldn't fall asleep, I'd count sheep." "One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep, five sheep, six, seven..." "Then it turned out that our apartment was bugged." "I guess the thing I was most ashamed of was the sheep counting." "What happened at midnight Saturday has shocked all Poles here and abroad, but not only." "It has shocked the entire world." "One day my father told me I didn't have to go to school." "I asked if a war had started." "He didn't answer." "I was happy because I didn't like getting up in the morning." "Then Marzena really scared me." "She lived in the same building;" "her father was a policeman." "She said my dad was going to jail and I'd be sent to an orphanage." "Marzena!" "Dad stayed home, but they threw him out of work." "I had him all to myself all day for the next seven years." "He bought me a huge dog to protect me from bad people." "He'd take him for walks even after curfew." "He wasn't afraid of anything." "Lots of people came over on his name's day." "Marzena's father came too, even though he was a policeman." "Then they poisoned our dog." "Dad said the secret police did it." "Then I felt that I hated Communists too." "I was almost grown up." "Those seven years were a difficult time." "My father couldn't find a job, and we didn't have any money but we got packages from abroad, and money from Solidarity friends." "All my girlfriends envied my colorful toothbrushes and canned peaches." "I wasn't fully aware that Communism was falling apart under my nose." "Solidarity!" "Solidarity!" "Solidarity!" "Everything around me changed from one day to the next." "The round table, and afterwards the first almost free elections." "And me?" "My first cigarette in hiding and my first almost real love." "I went to high school in a different country." "I guess the one my father had fought for." "What I couldn't understand was why he was sad more often now instead of enjoying his hard-won freedom." "From that year everything slowly began to change." "Fewer people came to our kitchen." "They had important positions and no time for everyday discussions." "Dad had no position." "He remained in the kitchen as always listening to what was going on in free Poland." "Something was eating him, but he never complained." "I'm 30, successful professionally;" "work takes up most of my time." "I have no children and am not planning any right now but who knows, maybe..." "once I'm all set." "Besides, medicine is making such strides these days I can treat myself to a child even when I'm in my forties." "Frankly speaking, I've focused on myself, and I don't regret it." "I feel free, after all I live in a free country." "My father doesn't like how I live." "He says it's a road to nowhere." "I don't know, we're different." "Besides, he's old and eccentric." "He once said that I would always be the little girl for whom he fought so that she could live in a free country." "His face was beautiful when he said it." "I'm sure he was moved." "english subtitles extracted by .:" "Norgen (norgen@centrum.cz) :."