Agnieszka Holland is one of the most powerful directors in Polish cinema. She began her film career at the sides of Zanussi and Wajda, and her 2011 film In Darkness evokes one of the seminal works of modern Polish cinema: Wajda's Sewer, dating from 1957. The sheltering underground world this time, however, is not beneath Warsaw, but instead conceals the Jews of the Lviv ghetto. A tale of suffering? Perhaps. But a bit different this time. Because these Jews - just like anyone else would do - bring into the sewers with them love and sex and jealousy, courage and cowardice, along with faith, doubt and dignity. And they aren't even the protagonists of this story: instead this is a role which goes to sewer inspector Leopold Socha, played by Robert Wieckiewicz, who toils away in the city's filth, while his character isn't quite squeaky clean, either. Socha is not a particularly advanced soul. Albeit through all kinds of shenanigans, he is attempting to survive in the occupied city and look after his family. This situation explodes when he encounters the Jews who have sought refuge in the sewer. And while it wouldn't be a bad move, business-wise, to turn them, Socha tries to bargain with them instead. But what happens when the deal can't be completed in the usual fashion. What happens when a person not particularly adept at handling complexity is forced to make a moral decision? What is to be done in a situation where horror rules both under the earth's surface and above it?
It's a dark film. If only because much of it takes place in the sewer. But it's also not completely lost in darkness, because sometimes it shines with the light of cohesiveness and solidarity. Of the possibility that it might be worth defying destiny.

This series has been made possible with the cooperation of the Polish Institute in Budapest.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest