Elephant

"Bartek" (Jan Hrynkiewicz) is a young lad, pretty stretched, living with his slightly over-bearing mother (Ewa Skibinska) on their struggling farm. His life is pretty mundane until the arrival of "Dawid" (Pawel Tomaszewski). He has returned home after the death of his estranged father, and "Bartek" agrees to meet him at the station. That's their first meeting, but gradually we are exposed to their increasing affection for each other. Each seems to offer the other a sense of hope, of the possibility of escape from the drudgery of a rural Polish existence that is rife with religious intolerance and bigotry - examples of which are soon demonstrated clearly as people around their village begin to realise the boys are not just friends. Director Kamil Krawczycki builds a gentle love story here without straying into cheesy sentimentality. The rather potent foil offered by Skibinska works well as a temper to the boy's own, frequently quite messy, story and also illustrates well the values of family loyalty - even if it might not be her own preferred scenario. Though perhaps a little predictable, it's a well constructed drama with three engaging performances that are well supported by Viktoria Filus's "Daria" as we conclude in a way that I could only describe as, rather sadly, all too realistically. It serves to remind those of us living in Western Europe in 2023 that acceptance of same sex relationships is by no means a universal fact across our part of this continent and is worth ninety minutes of your time just to remind us of what not to take for granted.

Is it possible to establish a loving, open, intimate same-sex relationship in an atmosphere of intolerance? That's the question raised in writer-director Kamil Krawczycki's second feature about an emerging gay male partnership in a rural, ultra-conservative, brazenly homophobic region of Poland, a story courageously filmed on-site. The picture follows the story of a smalltime horse farmer and reluctant caregiver to his unappreciative, closed-minded mother who begins falling for a long-absent musician who returns home for his father's funeral. But, when the duo starts hanging out together on a regular basis, they raise eyebrows, especially given the prodigal son's reputation and the reasons for why he left years ago. As their bond strengthens, the couple faces some hard choices about their future - particularly where it will unfold. This gorgeously filmed, sensitively acted tale admittedly follows a rather prototypical narrative and experiences some occasional pacing issues, but, given how skillfully this production is executed, there's much to be said for the picture's overall quality. It's the kind of saga that will undoubtedly stir the ire of some of the most prejudiced viewers - and deservedly so.

As a cry against préjudice and hatred, this film did its job wonderfully. Poland has a bad reputation for human rights and in the rural conservative areas, non-conformity is excised, derided or punished.

Dawid and Bartek try to make a go of their relationship in situ but Dawid had been driven out once and is loathe to remain. Bartek has plans that don't incorporate leaving and the film builds on this tension until its conclusion.

The area the film is set in is beautiful. It would make an idyllic retreat for anyone were it not for the closed minds of nearly all of the inhabitants.

In the end, a decision is made. To me, it's ambiguous in a way. Who won? Bigotry or freedom?

A gentle drama from Poland.

Now, the motive of a farm boy, stuck with the burden of hard work and family obligation, discovering himself by another boy from the outside world is not unique. There are several shorts and features from US, but from more recent and better known examples, 'God's Own Country' comes to my mind.

And comparing to the UK effort, I cannot but point out 2 main weaknesses from 'Slon'. First is the believability of the main character. Bartek doesn't really look like a boy who was born and grew up on a farm his whole life. Tall, slender, smooth and pale skined, he has distinctive urban vibe to my eyes. Also there are some hint of supposedly hard daily work on the farm, but it doesn't really deliver the dirty gritty raw sense of a real farm work, especially shadowed by the 'glamorous' aspect of horse riding. I think the hardship of running a farm all by himself is an important element of the character's situation, and failing to deliver it does affect the credibility.

Second is the lack of intense interaction between the 2 male leads. I don't think their relationship and interaction developed enough beyond the 'new boy's always sexier' rule and the convenience of the 'only 2 gays' in the village. For the relationship to truly unravel and grow Bartek out of his bubble, the relationship had to be more 3 dimensional and thicker.

'Slon' is an OK film. It is watchable and offers an interesting insight to the Polish rural life. But unfortunately it's not exactly memorable.