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."
#2022 München Filmfest
小邱福戏谑似地唱出我们小时候唱的绕口令—“我不吃鹅蛋我不变鹅，鹅鸡鹅鸭鹅脑壳”，内心深深地被感动。如果那只站在轰炸之后废墟中茫然失措的鹅是我们，童谣好似成真，也只有化身成鹅的我们才能又进入那段风云变幻的历史。个人不是历史的人质，画地也可以不为牢，那是筑起防线，坚守底线。掏粪也好，乞讨也罢，任何恶劣的环境下都有选择，只不过看我们会不会选。邱福选了他的道路并走到了底，喝了孟婆汤这一生无惧也无悔。（太阳出来喜洋洋那段也太好听了
制作牛的，很久没看到声音做的这么好的华语电影！！冥界那条线有点被绕晕了（crooky man居然是顾桃演的
有声默片，很多场景十分梅里埃。也是近几年华语新片里少有的没有哪个角色/演员让我感到尴尬的，可能是方言、戏剧感对夸张表演的宽容度比较高。
男人们永远在要求一个完美受害者，到头来一切交给上帝判决，中世纪的强奸真相无人在乎，现在呢？罗生门式三视角拍法不新鲜但，让女主的悲剧事实重演了三次，这才是冗长的意义。
这些个骑士老爷真够好笑的，在他们决斗结束后不到半个世纪，最著名的法国农妇圣女贞德带领法国人击败了英格兰。雷爷还是太英国了，女性主义议题的表达在形式和内容上都有些保守。《罗生门》式多视角叙事形式固然颇有讽刺效果，但过于工整，看第一个视角我就预料到编剧会在哪些地方呈现不同的叙事细节。内容上非常正确，主题表达也非常直白，只能说无功无过，和欧陆导演范霍文的《圣母》相比，缺乏更丰富的阐释和理解维度，思辨深度也远远不及后者。文本层面整体表现放在雷爷强大的电影作品序列里不算突出。但雷爷的影像品质依然顶级，吊打现在绝大多数好莱坞电影。真的太爱看雷爷拍古装片了，视听层面每一帧都是享受，期待老头子拍的拿破仑电影。
也或许，老雷子拍了两个小时过了三次剧情，就是为了能让我们不带任何预设立场观赏最后的对决，是的，当你看完全片，你会不带任何立场。
#LuciDallaCina2022 毫无发展且裹足不前的电影。
还好她丈夫战死了，她才得以幸福富裕地度过余生。男权的赤裸并不需要再次被发现，但女性的成就值得被凸显。
一场决斗，三个视角，罗生门式的故事。从各自的角度来看总是自己有理，但是从全局来看其实都挺无耻的，只有女性是最大的受害者。老雷这次没有再赞美忠诚、勇敢、荣誉，反而是展示中世纪的黑暗，骑士所在乎的不过也还是面子和利益，教会、贵族、议员，几乎所有人都很丑陋，都是这场性侵的共谋者。
鬼医生的设定有点像暮光里的吸血鬼医生，我果然是很吃这类设定😅
影片从卡鲁日母亲告诉玛格丽特自己也曾被强奸时才正式开始。从三人不同角度陈述的罗生门式的“玛格丽特是否被强奸”的故事提到了女性发声的高度。最后卡鲁日在决斗中胜利不仅赢回了脸面，也是长久以来一直被“强奸”的女性对强权的一次胜利。
EP.1-7 《无限列车》
BIFF 放映，虛實交錯方式結合川劇來講中國近代史，很有趣
审美的独特性毋庸置疑，但还是形式远远大于内容了。
虽然和《英雄》一模一样的三段结构（更早是《罗生门》）但细节填充得很漂亮，果然问题不在于重复，而在于怎样完善细节。
这种多重视点的片子，总是会有些奇怪的笑点，还挺好玩的。另外本片在制作上还是很强的，很有实感
形式感上虽然已经在美术等各方面浓墨重彩，但依然让人感觉四不像。整体故事和霸王别姬很像，但缺少感情来推动，像是流水账。三个小时的时长使人对剧情疲劳，审美疲劳。但依然提供了许多形式意义，建议喜欢不喜欢的影视创作者都可以看看。
不愧是雷德利斯科特，把历史吃女人的本质诠释入木三分。不过罗生门似乎没必要，丈夫-妻子的二元叙事就可以了。三个人中至少有一个人需要虚化，德赖弗不必有POV。最后的决斗太喜欢了，看得心惊肉跳。
剧本第二部分是不是写的有问题？强奸者在这段叙述里其实已经承认了罪行（假以爱的名义对受害人实施了强奸、并警告其闭嘴），虽然后来他又采纳了旁人的指点，一再否认、坚持否认，但观众已经看到了真相，这导致第三部分（真相还原的部分）戏剧性大大降低。还有一个不令人满足的地方是，女主角坚持要说出真相的动机，这个最能体现故事当代性以及人物魅力的的东西，交代地很不充分。结尾不错，一个虚假的胜利，够冷。
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