''Walesa: Man of Hope'' ( pl, Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei ()) is a 2013 Polish

biopic film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

directed by

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

, starring

Robert Więckiewicz Robert Więckiewicz (born 30 June 1967) is a Polish film and television actor from Nowa Ruda, Poland. In 2013, he received Best Actor Award at the Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film ...

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrati ...

. Wajda stated at

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

's Off Plus Camera Film Festival in April 2012 that he foresaw trouble following the film's release. The film was selected as the Polish entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ...

, but was not nominated.

Synopsis

Wałęsa, an electrician at the

Gdańsk Shipyard The Gdańsk Shipyard ( pl, Stocznia Gdańska, formerly Lenin Shipyard) is a large Polish shipyard, located in the city of Gdańsk. The yard gained international fame when Solidarity () was founded there in September 1980. It is situated on the w ...

s, participated in local demonstrations during the 1970s. Following the bloody aftermath, which remains with Wałęsa, he concentrates on his day-to-day duties. Ten years later, a new uprising occurs and he becomes an unexpected and charismatic leader of Polish dockworkers. Wałęsa's leadership role signified the beginning of a new movement that successfully overcame the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

regime of the period, and Wałęsa is pushed into representing the majority of Poland's population. The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, previously regarded as too powerful to confront, eventually grants the movement a degree of acceptance. The Polish example of solidarity then caused a

domino effect A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect generated when a particular event triggers a chain of similar events. This term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically ...

throughout

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

: people in Eastern Germany followed the Polish example, starting demonstrations for freedom that achieved the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

peacefully. The Soviet Union then dissolved alongside

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. While Europe is reshaped, Poland remains stable and peaceful. Yet a huge variety of political parties unfolds and Poland is on the brink of becoming as ungovernable as the late

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

. Wałęsa is subsequently elected as the first president of the new Polish democracy; but, this is followed by feelings of resentment among the Polish people who start to think that Wałęsa is becoming privileged. Consequently, the Polish people start to seek out ways to diminish Wałęsa's significance, until they finally accomplish their goal through uncovering actions from a past period.

Background

In April 2011, Wajda said to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' that he intended to make a film to "shine new light on Lech Wałęsa", while author Janusz Głowacki said the film "is not just going to be romanticism. There will be irony, too. Don't worry." Wajda also declared at a press conference that the

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...

and former president of Poland had condoned the project. Wajda stated that he considered the film the most difficult professional challenge of his filmmaking career thus far. However, he showed a realisation of the

categorical imperative The categorical imperative (german: kategorischer Imperativ) is the central philosophical concept in the deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant's 1785 '' Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals'', it is a way of eva ...

and quoted the famous slogan of Wałęsa, a personal friend: "''Nie chcę, ale muszę''" ("I don’t want to, but I have to"). Monica Bellucci was considered for the role of Oriana Fallaci, but Maria Rosaria Omaggio was finally selected.

Cast

as Lech Wałęsa *

Agnieszka Grochowska Agnieszka Grochowska (born 31 December 1979) is a Polish film and theatre actress. Life She was born on 31 December 1979 in Warsaw. She graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw in 2002. In 2003, she started working at the ...

Danuta Wałęsa Mirosława Danuta Wałęsa ( ''née'' Gołoś; born 25 February 1949), is the wife of the former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa. In 1983 she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband,R. W. APPLE JR., "AWARD IS ACC ...

Zbigniew Zamachowski Zbigniew Zamachowski (; born 17 July 1961) is a Polish actor. Life and career He was born on 17 July 1961 in Brzeziny near Łódź. Zamachowski graduated from the actor's faculty of the National Film School in Łódź. He began his acting care ...

as Nawiślak * Maria Rosaria Omaggio as Oriana Fallaci *Cezary Kosiński as Majchrzak * Mirosław Baka as Klemens Gniech *Iwona Bielska as Ilona, Wałęsa's neighbour * Maciej Stuhr as Priest * Małgorzata Zajączkowska as Shop assistant *Marcin Hycnar as KOR member Rysiek * Dorota Wellman as Henryka Krzywonos *

Adam Woronowicz Adam Woronowicz (; born 25 December 1973) is a Polish actor. He has appeared in more than 90 films since 1995. He received the Polish Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''The Christening''. Woronowicz played the role of Father Jerzy Pop ...

as Tadeusz Fiszbach *Marcin Perchuć as Instruktor *Ewa Kuryło as

Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish free trade union activist and co-founder of Solidarity, the first non-communist trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from her job at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in Au ...

*Arkadiusz Detmer as Malinowski *

Mateusz Kościukiewicz Mateusz Kościukiewicz (; born 1 May 1986 in Nowy Tomyśl) is a Polish film actor. Life and career He grew up in Nowy Tomyśl, where he attended the General and Post-Secondary Schools. He studied at the Kraków State Higher Theater School. In ...

as Krzysiek *Piotr Probosz as Mijak *Jerzy Nasierowski as Mijak's grandpa *Ewa Kolasińska as

Shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

worker *Michał Czernecki *Remigiusz Jankowski as Shipyard worker *Wojciech Kalarus as Chairman *Maciej Marczewski as KOR member *Maciej Konopiński as SB agent *Marcel Głogowski as Bogdan Wałęsa (aged 8–10) *Wiktor Malinowski as Jarosław Wałęsa (aged 3–5) *Kamil Jaworski as Przemysław Wałęsa (aged 5–7) *Jakub Świderski as Ludwik Prądzyński *Bogusław Kudłek as

Bogdan Borusewicz Bogdan Michał Borusewicz (; born 11 January 1949) was the Marshal in the Polish Senate from 20 October 2005 to 11 November 2015. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament ( Sej ...

*Michał Meyer as Jerzy Borowczak *Grzegorz Małecki as UB agent *Ewa Konstancja Bułhak as Customs official *Damian Jagusz as soldier

Production

Wajda announced his intention to blend real contemporary news material with the fictional content of the film to "give testimony to the truth". The contemporary footage was adapted by superimposing the face of Robert Więckiewicz on Wałęsa's real face. The re-enacted scenes were shot "on location in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, including in the historic shipyard and its surroundings, as well as in Warsaw". As Wajda told the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', the ''raison d'être'' of his work was not to entertain the Western world, but to disclose the historic truth for a Polish audience. Głowacki assured journalists that his script was not meant to be an

apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term ha ...

, but instead showed Wałęsa "as a man of flesh and blood, a leader of great strength but also someone who has his weaknesses". The screenwriter was significantly affected upon discovering that Wajda sought to pursue the same approach and consequently "thought it would be an interesting project". In August 2012, a company known to financial experts as "Amber Gold" was considered as an investor for this film; but, when the company was investigated, it withdrew from the production process.

Release

The film was on the program of the 2014 edition of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

's EU Film Festival, shown in the cities of

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen ( th, ขอนแก่น, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, also known as the "big four of Isan", the others being Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Ubon Ratchathani. It is the capital of Khon Kaen province and ...

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. Alongside films such as the Spanish feature '' The Pelayos'', the film was one of seven films that were shown in all three cities.

References

External links

*
Akson Studio photo gallery from the film set of ''Walesa: Man of Hope''''Culture.pl'' website article: "International Reactions to Wajda's Wałęsa"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walesa (film) 2013 films 2013 biographical drama films 2010s political drama films Polish biographical drama films 2010s Polish-language films Films directed by Andrzej Wajda Films set in the 20th century Films set in the 21st century Cultural depictions of Lech Wałęsa Films set in Poland Films about Nobel laureates Polish political drama films