Women in Rose and Volhynia (Hatred) as a medium of Wojciech Smarzowski’s historical films Cover Image

KOBIETY W RÓŻY I WOŁYNIU JAKO MEDIUM KINA HISTORYCZNEGO WOJCIECHA SMARZOWSKIEGO
Women in Rose and Volhynia (Hatred) as a medium of Wojciech Smarzowski’s historical films

Author(s): Aleksander Brzuzy
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Wojciech Smarzowski; Volhynia; Rose; World War II; Masurians; historical film; gender studies

Summary/Abstract: After 1989, a new trend in historical films appeared in Polish cinema, with a settlement character. The female perspective interested, among others, Wojciech Smarzowski, the creator of such period pieces as "Rose" (2011) and "Volhynia" (2016). In the first film, the director refers to the tragic history of Masuria, while "Volhynia" deals with a complicated Polish-Ukrainian relationship. For Smarzowski, the story of a man, an individual thrown into the vortex of war, becomes the core of the films discussed in this article. Using the example of the title character Rose and Zosia Głowacka from "Volhynia", the director focuses on the hardships of femininity and motherhood during the geopolitical turmoil. This time, it is not the well-known heroes who constitute the plot axis but the “nameless” women who have been called upon by history after more than half a century.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 15
  • Page Range: 205-213
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish