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."
经典在前，斯导执筒，剧情有些许变革，但同时也有还需要改变的地方；女主唱功是有的，男主要撑起这么一个大戏还需要历练；女配全剧最亮眼，预测可能会捧一座小金人。另：女主将会出演迪士尼《白雪公主》真人电影。
电影的部分再做的怎么好，看不到载歌载舞背后的情感支持，也对我无效
男主演的…非常离谱…不要轻易尝试歌舞片…莎翁的底子还是好的..但是还是留给舞台不要留给银幕了..
想起大卫伯德维尔吐槽，相比港片，好莱坞的黑帮火并戏就像三明治，三板斧，机位很少，看起来就是扭打在一起，毫无美感和张力，眼前就是个反面典型，而且丝毫不肯脱离舞台剧的外壳，把舞台剧的走位分毫不差地嵌入到电影实在违和，五六十年代的故事放到现在看更加奇特，和刚杀了自己兄长的男友啪啪，又把嫂子置于更危险的境地，这不是绿茶吗…
男主选角差到离谱，怪不得颁奖季没有主角奖项提名。
补完，尚可；斯皮尔伯格任性导演，老牌经典音乐剧电影版。纽约贫民窟帮派械斗+移民矛盾背景下的罗密欧与朱丽叶的故事，男主不太行啊，女主唱得至少不错，印象最深的是老太太独唱那首，舞蹈和场面调度很不错了
对不起，但私以为真的没有你们说的这么不堪...即便第三幕结束的仓促，但结合打光或是人物站位的调度来看，竟有一种杜琪峰般的港片风范，摄影也变得冷峻残酷，再无舞蹈与歌唱，也再无逃生梯上的隔窗对望。此时此刻与前两幕的制片厂华丽风格相比较，一时间竟有种《红楼梦》似的物是人非之感。更何况斯皮尔伯格这次是真的牛逼啊，开头那个定场镜头的摄影机运动就足以让许多当代导演学个五六年了，仅靠一个镜头便把观众拉入暴力动荡的贫民街区之中。尽管后面可以看出斯皮尔伯格正努力在好莱坞化和去好莱坞化间挣扎，但形式间的隐喻却仍然塞得满满当当，甚至在最后的枪响中共同发力，让我有种莫名的升华的快感...真正诠释了如何通过剧作之外的视听元素来拯救一个平庸的剧本
丰富的场景，精致的转场，但影片的具象化太消解舞台调度的那种铿锵力度了，Rita不亏是老将，全片最佳是somewhere。
乏善可陈，除了制作很精美，斯皮尔伯格的调度很出色，这故事可实在接受无能。俩主角哪有配角出彩，男主角看着有点笨重，Riff多带派。
女主我不认识，主要是看吉米欧阳。他演技还是差着那么点儿劲儿的。不是说浪漫爱情轻喜剧的男主一定要好看，但确实得有点swag，能让人花痴得起来。
这个剧本也太烂了吧 主角们还都是小学生吗？
corny but still kinda cute
Lake Placid也被拍进电影了，同样也是冬天去的冷死了，女主怎么可以光腿？？
2021了居然还是有这么俗套的爱情片，有asian face但是和asian没有一毛钱关系，可以当下饭菜看一下，
经典的东西就留在过去好不好…何必再浪费这么多钱做个大型舞台剧
Having the leading actor looking like Jimmy, I really don’t know what to think and what to feel. This is so odd. Is this progress? I am so confused. #颜狗的困惑
如果理解不了上述男人为了男人的语义，那么安妮塔去找华伦缇娜时，格拉吉的态度则是很好的反应。格一开始很讨厌安，但安被一众男人猥亵时，格立马转换了，甚至遭遇了被扔出门外，无法救助安。这点也契合了时下迫切需要的女权。
开场的华丽调度只是灵光一现，整部翻拍都无法在现代语境下自圆其说. 一看服化道就知道下了血本，有这个钱还不如支援非洲了！另外，西语也不加字幕是什么骚操作？看一部电影还得学一门新语言？
我试图尽量不用现实主义电影的评价方式去理解歌舞片，但是当女主角在哥哥死之后马上和杀人凶手睡了然后还和嫂子说“you should know better”之后，我真的白眼翻到了天上。其实斯皮尔伯格的技术和完成度的基本盘是稳定的，镜头摄影场面调度都很教科书，只是他没有处理好故事和媒介以及故事和当下这个时代的冲突。
说实话，这是我看过最好的圣诞爱情电影，又幽默又温馨, 还发人深省。的确“社焦”网络害死人，做真实的自己才最重要。Love Christmas 💗🎄
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