Messenger of the Truth

"Messenger of The Truth" is a documentary about the 1980s Solidarity movement in Poland. The film's focus is on a priest hero and martyr of the time. Father Jerzy Popieluszko was the chaplain of Solidarity, the worker's union that contributed to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Popieluszko was a man of God who encouraged the Poles to have faith and hope and to persevere in their demands for changes under the Polish Soviet regime. Father Jerzy stood up to the Communist regime for the rights of the workers and their religious liberty.

The documentary is narrated by Martin Sheen and has news film clips and still photos of news reports of the time. The story follows chronological order from some background on the young priest. It covers the beginning of Solidary, Fr. Jerzy's inspiring support for the movement, and the Communist regime's efforts to silence him. It covers the sudden disappearance of the priest - the kidnapping by agents of the Communist Security Service on Oct. 19, 1984, and the recovery of his badly beaten body from a reservoir on Oct. 30.

The priest's murder led to an uproar throughout Poland. The desperate Communist regime convicted three members of the security service and a superior of the crime. More than 250,000 people attended the priest's funeral, and he has since been honored as a national hero. His cause for sainthood is underway in the Catholic Church.

Anyone interested in history, especially the last years of the USSR and its collapse, should find this film interesting.

For me, the discover of Father Jerzy Popyeluszko was the gift of the film by. Agnie.szka holland, To Kill a Priest.

This documentary offers, in fair, gentle, direct, precise manner more than portrait of a Romano Catholic blessing priest.

It is the portrait of a country under Communism regime and the intense fight against it of a young priest , supporting the Solidarity movement, offering freedom, trust, courage and hope to the believers, speaking, loud and honest against abuses and injustices, knowing the risks, assuming, in profound manner, the danger, being , in brutal manner , reduced to silence , offering his sacrifice as seed for the political changes.

The image of people in, near church Saint Stanislav Kostka are more than impressive. Sure, as Romanian, I am subjective in profound sense. But it is a real, real profound useful documentary, well crafted, telling, in fair manner, a story who must not ignore.