Poklosie

Inspired by the true Holocaust related incident that took place in Poland during the Second World War, Aftermath tells the story of two brothers who unearth a shocking secret about their hometown that hasn't been spoken of ever since the war ended. Franciszek Kalina has returned from Chicago to his hometown after decades & discovers that his brother Józef has been shunned by the entire community for acquiring many Jewish tombstones which were once used as pavement for a now abandoned road. As the residents grow more hostile towards them, the brothers attempt to find out what really happened to all the Jewish residents only to discover a truth that'll scar them for life.

Brilliantly directed by Władysław Pasikowski, the first act of the film is kind of slow, less informative & tells a completely different story than what's presented in the second & third acts. Nicely photographed, superbly acted, finely scored & becoming potent in the middle of the story from where it feels like this film will explode any moment & eventually does when the devastating secrets about the fate of the town's Jews are finally revealed.

On an overall scale, Aftermath (Pokłosie) could've been a better film if it had used a more tighter narrative but nonetheless manages to achieve what it set out to do & brings on the screen a horrifying secret that many around the world still aren't aware of and ends up delivering an even more powerful punch that won't be easily forgotten. Undoubtedly deserving a wider global audience, Aftermath is one film you shouldn't miss out if you're game for Holocaust-related cinema.

It is said that history cannot be buried under the ground. It always comes out of its own accord in the future to talk about the past. This is something which viewers witness in "Aftermath" which has been set as a fast paced thriller. The story is told through the turbulent lives of two brothers Franek and Jozek who experience how their peaceful life in a small polish village is completely transformed once they come across some horrible secrets involving murders of their Jewish neighbors during second world war. Pasikowski's film succeeds from the beginning as it fights against a lot of clichés. Firstly, it is absolutely harsh against the belief that let the secrets remained buried as it would be in the interest of everybody if their currently status quo is maintained and not disturbed in future. This is not something which Kalina brothers are willing to accept readily as it was not on their minds to let the secrets be buried. They were fully aware of consequences they would have to face if they went ahead with their scheme of unearthing secrets. In this manner, Kalina brothers-Franek and Jozef make it explicitly clear that truth must come out regardless of the anguish and pain it might cause to anybody who is not able to digest it. Although the villagers are not shown in a negative light but director Pasikowski is upright when he shows that there is a lot of resentment in the minds of local people about its inhabitants who have left for USA. The role of church as depicted in this film is rather ambiguous as the local priest chose to remain neutral at a time when a lot could have been done by him to assuage sufferings. The religious angle gets prominence when the younger brother sacrifices himself in the same manner as Jesus Christ to atone for sins committed by his father. It is rather unfortunate that upon its release in Poland, Aftermath was embroiled into unnecessary controversy. One fail to understand what led some Polish people to accuse this film of being an anti Polish propaganda. Lastly, as freedom of expression is needed to understand the greatness of all works of art, it is hoped that the ban on "Aftermath" in some Polish cinemas would soon be lifted.

I have become increasingly interested in films and books that address the topic of Polish anti-Semitism. Initially, I approached the topic defensively. How, I wondered, did France and Italy get so conveniently off the hook in the post war years, when the capitulation and collaboration with the Nazis that occurred in those countries is indisputable? Poland's government was the only one that did not capitulate to the Nazis during World War II, and that is part of the reason Warsaw was reduced to rubble. Nazi punishment for Poles during the war was exceptionally harsh; whole families were put to death for harboring Jews.

"Aftermath," directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski, is another example of a new generation of Polish writers and artists coming to terms with a dark past. The film begins with the return of a man to his hometown after 20 years of living in Chicago. Something is clearly amiss. His brother has inexplicably begun unearthing Jewish gravestones that were used as paving blocks after the war. The neighbors are unaccountably hostile. The buried secrets concern the wartime fate of the local Jews who, contrary to official history, were not deported by the Nazi occupiers but massacred in a single day by their Gentile neighbors. Released in Poland in 2012, "Aftermath" reignited the controversy that surrounded the publication in 2000 of the book "Neighbors" by Jan T. Gross, a searing account of the covered-up slaughter in Jedwabne, a once half-Jewish village in northeastern Poland where hundreds of Jews, including children, were murdered in a savage pogrom in 1941.

In "Afternmath," Poles, accustomed to seeing themselves as victims during World War II, are confronted with an incident in which their countrymen had been victimizers. Nationalists were incensed. Others found this revelation evidence of a nation coming to terms with its disturbing past. Pasikowski saw the subject as material for a movie. "The film isn't an adaptation of the book, which is documented and factual, but the film did grow out of it, since it was the source of my knowledge and shame," he has said. "Aftermath," which is set around 2001, at the time of the Jedwabne debate (to which the film never explicitly refers) in the same rural region of northeast Poland, and draws not only on the book "Neighbors" but also the 1996 documentary "Shtetl," made by Marian Marzynski to create not a documentary but an impassioned plea for truth no matter how ugly.

Obsessed with the idea of rescuing the remnants of Jewish life, Pasikowski's protagonist, Jozef Kalina (Maciej Stuhr), is subjected to intense hostility. Jozef is ostracized by his neighbors. His wife, unable to withstand the pressure, leaves for Chicago. His older brother, Franciszek (Ireneusz Czop), who departed Poland on the eve of the 1981 declaration of martial law, returns to investigate and finds himself unwillingly drawn into his brother's mission, excavating the past with increasingly violent and ultimately devastating results.

Not too long ago, many were slaughtered, and there was a fraction that got all the attention and the blame. The problem is that there were parties that just stood by while others committed these crimes and/or either approved or even participated in their execution. The film explores how there was more to history than we have been exposed to, that the horrors were worse than anything we could imagine, and the devil shows his ugly face in more than one way.

Two brothers find themselves at the heart of the story, which begins as a some type of thriller/conspiracy the likes of which we have seen before. For a while the spirit of "Chinatown" comes to mind, and a beautifully crafted film slowly unfurls a narrative where the mystery expands, the cast of the dueling parties grows as new layers are revealed, and eventually the film combines elements seen in old fashioned thrillers, horror movies, and even a touch of noir here and there.

What takes the film to a higher category is that what we see here has basis on real historical events, and as we realize this, our souls hurt because the pain is too much, and it might be that there is the possibility that we can become one of the parties involved. After all, free will has always been at the core of the worst human decisions in history. Either we want to destroy, to save, or to remain quiet and allow the evils to continue and grow. Liars have for years assisted those who either killed or stole, and they condoned quietly the actions of others by not interfering.

Films like these makes us remember how ignorant we are, in many different degrees by either not learning enough, not being willing to change and by not facing what really exists in our own souls.

From the beginning one knows this is not going to be a walk in the park. The movie exudes heaviness wrapped in the antisemitism of the time, the country and the characters.

Layered with numerous subplots about brother-brother relationship, the role of the church, the morals of the people, the dreariness of rural living in Poland-the main peeling of the onion unfolds in the last few minutes and the results are spellbinding.

The twists and turns kept me engrossed and I found the acting so good that I had to remind myself that this was not a documentary. Having said that we were reminded by a poster that this is based on actual events, indeed that made it even more provocative and upsetting.

It's the kind of movie that will have you thinking about it for along time.