In 1961, Stanislaw Rozewicz created the novella film "Birth Certificate" in cooperation with his brother, Taduesz Rozewicz as screenwriter. Such brother tandems are rare in the history of film but aside from family ties, Stanislaw (born in 1924) and Taduesz (born in 1921) were mutually bound by their love for the cinema. They were born and grew up in Radomsk, a small town which had "its madmen and its saints" and most importanly, the "Kinema" cinema, as Stanislaw recalls: for him cinema is "heaven, the whole world, enchantment". Tadeusz says he considers cinema both a charming market stall and a mysterious temple. "All this savage land has always attracted and fascinated me," he says. "I am devoured by cinema and I devour cinema; I'm a cinema eater." But Taduesz Rozewicz, an eminent writer, admits this unique form of cooperation was a problem to him: "It is the presence of the other person not only in the process of writing, but at its very core, which is inserperable for me from absolute solitude." Some scenes the brothers wrote together; others were created by the writer himself, following discussions with the director. But from the perspective of time, it is "Birth Certificate", rather than "Echo" or "The Wicked Gate", that Taduesz describes as his most intimate film. This is understandable. The tradgey from September 1939 in Poland was for the Rozewicz brothers their personal "birth certificate". When working on the film, the director said "This time it is all about shaking off, getting rid of the psychological burden which the war was for all of us. ... Cooperation with my brother was in this case easier, as we share many war memories. We wanted to show to adult viewers a picture of war as seen by a child. ... In reality, it is the adults who created the real world of massacres. Children beheld the horrors coming back to life, exhumed from underneath the ground, overwhelming the earth."
The principle of composition of "Birth Certificate" is not obvious. When watching a novella film, we tend to think in terms of traditional theatre. We expect that a miniature story will finish with a sharp point; the three film novellas in Rozewicz's work lack this feature. We do not know what will be happen to the boy making his alone through the forest towards the end of "On the Road". We do not know whether in "Letter from the Camp", the help offered by the small heroes to a Soviet prisoner will rescue him from the unknown fate of his compatriots. The fate of the Jewish girl from "Drop of Blood" is also unclear. Will she keep her new impersonation as "Marysia Malinowska"? Or will the Nazis make her into a representative of the "Nordic race"? Those questions were asked by the director for a reason. He preceived war as chaos and perdition, and not as linear history that could be reflected in a plot. Although "Birth Certificate" is saturated with moral content, it does not aim to be a morality play. But with the immense pressure of reality, no varient of fate should be excluded. This approached can be compared wth Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blind Chance" 25 years later, which pictured dramatic choices of a different era.
The film novella "On the Road" has a very sparing plot, but it drew special attention of the reviewers. The ominating overtone of the war films created by the Polish Film School at that time should be kept in mind. Mainly owing to Wajda, those films dealt with romantic heritage. They were permeated with pathos, bitterness, and irony. Rozewicz is an extraordinary artist. When narrating a story about a boy lost in a war zone, carrying some documents from the regiment office as if they were a treasure, the narrator in "On the Road" discovers rough prose where one should find poetry. And suddenly, the irrational touches this rather tame world. The boy, who until that moment resembled a Polish version of the Good Soldier Schweik, sets off, like Don Quixote, for his first and last battle. A critic described it as "an absurd gesture and someone else could surely use it to criticise the Polish style of dying. ... But the Rozewicz brothers do no accuse: they only compose an elegy for the picturesque peasant-soldier, probably the most important veteran of the Polish war of 1939-1945." "Birth Certificate" is not a lofty statement about national imponderabilia. The film reveals a plebeian perspective which Aleksander Jackieqicz once contrasted with those "lyrical lamentations" inherent in the Kordian tradition. However, a historical overview of Rozewicz's work shows that the distinctive style does not signify a fundamental difference in illustrating the Polish September. Just as the memorable scene from Wajda's "Lotna" was in fact an expression of desperation and distress, the same emotions permeate the final scene of "Birth Certificate". These are not ideological concepts, though once described as such and fervently debated, but rather psychological creations. In this specific case, observes Witold Zalewski, it is not about manifesting knightly pride, but about a gesture of a simple man who does not agree to be enslaved.
The novella "Drop of Blood" is, with Aleksander Ford's "Border Street", one of the first narrations of the fate of the Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation. The story about a girl literally looking for her place on earth has a dramatic dimension. Especially in the age of today's journalistic disputes, often manipulative, lacking in empathy and imbued with bad will, Rozewicz's story from the past shocks with its authenticity. The small herione of the story is the only one who survives a German raid on her family home. Physical survial does not, however, mean a return to normality. Her frightened departure from the rubbish dump that was her hideout lead her to a ruined apartment. Her walk around it is painful because still fresh signs of life are mixed with evidence of annihilation. Help is needed, but Mirka does not know anyone in the outside world. Her subsequent attempts express the state of the fugitive's spirits - from hope and faith, moving to doubt, a sense of oppression, and thickening fear, and finally to despair.
At the same time, the Jewish girl's search for refuge resembles the state of Polish society. The appearance of Mirka results in confusion, and later, trouble. This was already signalled by Rozewicz in an exceptional scene from "Letter from the Camp" in which the boy's neighbour, seeing a fugitive Russian soldier, retreats immediately, admitting that "Now, people worry only about themselves." Such embarassing excuses mask fear. During the occupation, no one feels safe. Neither social status not the aegis of a charity organisation protects against repression. We see the potential guardians of Mirka passing her back and forth among themselves. These are friendly hands but they cannot offer strong support. The story takes place on that thin line between solidarity and heroism. Solidarity arises spontaneously, but only some are capable of heroism. Help for the girl does not always result from compassion; sometimes it is based on past relations and personal ties (a neighbour of the doctor takes in the fugitive for a few days because of past friendship). Rozewicz portrays all of this in a subtle way; even the smallest gesture has significance. Take, for example, the conversation with a stranger on the train: short, as if jotted down on the margin, but so full of tension. And earlier, a peculiar examination of Polishness: the "Holy Father" prayer forced on Mirka by the village boys to check that she is not a Jew. Would not rising to the challenge mean a death sentance?
Viewed after many years, "Birth Certificate" discloses yet another quality that is not present in the works of the Polish School, but is prominent in later B-class war films. This is the picture of everyday life during the war and occupation outlined in the three novellas. It harmonises with the logic of speaking about "life after life". Small heroes of Rozewicz suddenly enter the reality of war, with no experience or scale with which to compare it. For them, the present is a natural extension of and at the same time a complete negation of the past. Consider the sleey small-town marketplace, through which armoured columns will shortly pass. Or meet the German motorcyclists, who look like aliens from outer space - a picture taken from an autopsy because this is how Stanislaw and Taduesz perceived the first Germans they ever met. Note the blurred silhouettes of people against a white wall who are being shot - at first they are shocking, but soon they will probably become a part of the grim landscape. In the city centre stands a prisoner camp on a sodden bog ("People perish likes flies; the bodies are transported during the night"); in the street the childern are running after a coal wagon to collect some precious pieces of fuel. There's a bustle around some food (a boy reproaches his younger brother's actions by singing: "The warrant officer's son is begging in front of the church? I'm going to tell mother!"); and the kitchen, which one evening becomes the proscenium of a real drama. And there are the symbols: a bar of chocolate forced upon a boy by a Wehrmacht soldier ("On the Road"); a pair of shoes belonging to Zbyszek's father which the boy spontaneously gives to a Russian fugitive; a priceless slice of bread, ground under the heel of a policeman in the guter ("Letters from the Camp"). As the director put it: "In every film, I communicate my own vision of the world and of the people. Only then the style follows, the defined way of experiencing things." In Birth Certificate, he adds, his approach was driven by the subject: "I attempted to create not only the texture of the document but also to add some poetic element. I know it is risky but as for the merger of documentation and poety, often hidden very deep, if only it manages to make its way onto the screen, it results in what can referred to as 'art'."
After 1945, there were numerous films created in Europe that dealt with war and children, including "Somewhere in Europe" ("Valahol Europaban", 1947 by Geza Radvanyi), "Shoeshine" ("Sciescia", 1946 by Vittorio de Sica), and "Childhood of Ivan" ("Iwanowo dietstwo" by Andriej Tarkowski). Yet there were fewer than one would expect. Pursuing a subject so imbued with sentimentalism requires stylistic disipline and a special ability to manage child actors. The author of "Birth Certificate" mastered both - and it was not by chance. Stanislaw Rozewicz was always the beneficent spirit of the film milieu; he could unite people around a common goal. He emanated peace and sensitivity, which flowed to his co-workers and pupils. A film, being a group work, necessitates some form of empathy - tuning in with others.
In a biographical documentary about Stanislaw Rozewicz entitled "Walking, Meeting" (1999 by Antoni Krauze), there is a beautiful scene when the director, after a few decades, meets Beata Barszczewska, who plays Mireczka in the novella "Drops of Blood". The woman falls into the arms of the elderly man. They are both moved. He wonders how many years have passed. She answers: "A few years. Not too many." And Rozewicz, with his characteristic smile says: "It is true. We spent this entire time together."
小小的法庭，完整描绘了整个社会的撕裂感，老法官代表了极其迂腐傲慢的美国官僚制度，年轻一辈繁多的面孔都让人振奋不已。
无论是要流血就在全世界面前流，还是最后宣读一个个因越战死去的士兵名字，你都可以把他划分到政治作秀去。可是，政治作秀本质上并不是贬义词，其关键点在于他所要阐述的是否事实和其背后所追求的目的是什么？强权可以轻易干扰司法公正，警察可以随意摘下徽章，但自由思想不会因此而灭种。
Over dramatized, over political, over biased. The editing is not good either.
不要忘了我们为什么这么做的意义。不把它当作真实，就拿来比喻。人生有太多被别的事情东拉西扯，别忘了意义。
太工整了，一百二十分作文，少见的极左但不至于太讨厌的作品。political trial，唯一用生命抗争的，是名字和数量没有出现在事件中的黑人。
这法官真尼玛是个逗逼~”法律“大多数时都只是掌权者的武器，无论在哪个地方~
自由和权利之间的抗争是个永远不会结束的死循环。
顺便借古讽今
- 与我的政府对我的蔑视相比, 我的蔑视不值一提。
怎么说呢？终于官宣在一起了，亲个嘴都要等那么久，更何况还没亲到，气人！
历史总是会自动重演。但有些时候，没有目击者。
挺振奋人心的，民权🙂虽然朋友看到一半无聊的开始玩手机，但是我好喜欢这类电影啊！
密集台词和剪辑，两个多小时必须高度集中以免错过关键细节。可怕的1968年，全球都在闹，会利用媒体的嬉皮士真可爱，一早明白是zz审判，可惜后来死于“自杀”？小雀斑的白左精英真体制内功利分子了，后来还娶了简方达，煽动也是他，煽情也是他。灯塔国一样问题一把，起码还有人拍出来啊~
内容上面正邪对立得黑白分明，正方下了很大功夫做多态，但总得来说还是故事剧情大于人物——不过群像戏也确实已经塞得满满当当了，没办法苛责太多。
3.5 啧原来和波斯语课一样是真·你的名字，索金老师燃真心是燃，写主旋律剧的编剧们特别值得来学习，只是他的套路化的手法看多了也有点疲乏，煽得点掐得真好，有些目的性的东西也过于明显，也可以说是他的某种投机取巧的方式；以一场庭审串联起的烽火连天却又燃情四海的理想主义的年代，属于芝加哥的街垒之夜，除了新闻镜头，几乎全赖室内调度与演员功力；感觉法官和庭审戏还是有点偏，比如讥讽法官名字都老记不得之类的，不如正正经经严肃型描绘，有些讽刺性的内容点到即止，写出当时的保守局限，继而自然就更能凸显进步意义了不好嘛；“Father, No!” 观众席笑得和片中旁听席一样笑翻了
把波澜壮阔的社会大事件装进审判厅狭窄的空间里展开故事，很考验编剧和摄像的调度能力，当然对观影者的法律、民权运动等知识的谂熟程度也是一个大考验。
法庭片这个种类在国内是没有的，二欧美的则越拍越精彩，文斗比武斗还要好看。
與政府對我的蔑視而言，我對政府的蔑視不值一提
剧本极好，好几处台词都如金石之音掷地有声，可惜索金的导演功力还是远逊于他的剧本功力，很多地方的力道没有完全发挥出来，芬奇/斯皮尔伯格来导的话，节奏和力度都会更准。小雀斑演一个尚有热血的建制左，表演分寸感极好。而关于题材本身，很多时候我并不认同白左的具体理念，但在每一次以卵击石的情境里，我都没有办法站在石头那边，不论左右，首先是人。眼泪为所有流血的人而流。（前不久恰好看完悲惨世界的影与剧，也有小雀斑，与本片恰可遥相呼应
此片打分颇高，但相信不少人看得一团雾水，因为对此历史事件并不了解，只是觉得明星多，剪接快，口水多。应该说，中间有些对白不错，比较有意思，纪录片的穿插也非常好，有几位的表演也非常精彩，但整体来说，故事背景不算清楚，开头主要人物介绍不够，缺乏与真实人物的对照，事件太多有些混杂不清，看着挺热闹，其实一地鸡毛。
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