A Bodiless Enemy

• Authors: Marszalek R.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article is in fact author's address during the international conference on 'The Warsaw Uprising in the Context of Polish-German Relations' (Warsaw, March 30-April 1, 2007). He argues that there is no room for an 'absolute enemy' in the selected works by Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Munk of the so-called 'Polish Film School' and that the films are free of the hatred to the Germans as invaders and occupiers. What emerge from the films are a toothless enemy and then a bodiless enemy. The thesis is exemplified in a movie 'Canal' - the death of the Warsaw insurgents is portrayed in a symbolic language; in 'Ostinato lugubre', the second part of the movie 'Eroica', in which the Germans (as enemy) are not the demonic personification of oppression; in 'The Dog' (part of Cross of Valor) - the hero saves the life of the dog guarding inmates at the Auschwitz death camp; in 'Lotna', one of few war films in the history of cinema that does without the character of a (German) enemy. The author points out that the 'dematerialization' of the enemy flows from the special (both psychological and moral) instinct of self-preservation rather than forgiveness.

Keywords

EN

WAR CINEMA

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Sztuki PAN
• Journal: Kwartalnik Filmowy
• Year: 2007
• Issue: 57-58
• Pages: 40-45
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Marszalek R.

• R. Marszalek, Collegium Civitas: Palac Kultury i Nauki, XII p. Plac Defilad 1, 00-901 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07PLAAAA03126446