Strajk - The heroine of Gdansk

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Movie
German title Strajk - The heroine of Gdansk
Original title Strajk - The heroine of Gdańsk
Strajk - bohaterka z Gdańska
Country of production Germany , Poland
original language German
Publishing year 2006
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Volker Schlöndorff
script Andreas Pflüger ,
Sylke Rene Meyer ,
Maciej Karpiński
production Jürgen Haase ,
Maciej Ślesicki ,
Jolanta Rojek ,
Jörg Rothe ,
Alexander Ris
music Jean Michel Jarre
camera Andreas Höfer
cut Peter Przygodda ,
Wanda Zeman
occupation

Strajk - The Heroine of Danzig is a film by the German director Volker Schlöndorff about the life story of the most important co-founder of the Polish Solidarność , Anna Walentynowicz .

action

Agnieszka lives alone with her illegitimate son Krystian in a workers' dormitory. As a worker at the Gdańsk shipyard, she is chosen as the heroine of work and receives a television as a gift. She falls in love with the roommate Kazimierz, who works as a trumpeter in the shipyard band. The two get married and Krystian has a father. A short time later, Kazimierz dies of a heart attack.

Again Agnieszka is alone with her son. Spurred on by him, she learns to read and write and finally passes the crane operator exam. The popular Agnieszka is the only female crane operator at the shipyard. When it comes to an accident with several dead, Agnieszka rebels for the first time against the socialist authorities and fights for money for the bereaved. When she witnessed how striking shipyard workers were beaten down by the militia in 1970, she increasingly moved away from the socialist system.

In 1980 she joins a group around the electrician Lech, which is now looking for an open confrontation with the system and thus heralds the turning point in the socialist Eastern Bloc. Agnieszka becomes the figurehead of the newly founded first free trade union, but leaves the leadership to Lech because she is of the opinion that as a woman she is not taken seriously by the male opponents in the negotiations. Spurred on by Agnieszka, Lech fights for the shipyard workers more than he had previously believed.

background

Katharina Thalbach plays the leading role in the German-Polish co-production ; in the film, however, the protagonist is called Agnieszka , not Anna . Andrzej Chyra plays the electrician Lech ( Lech Wałęsa ). Strajk was shot in Gdansk in 2005/2006 at the original location ( Lenin shipyard Gdansk ) and is committed to the classics of Polish history films by Schlöndorff's friend Andrzej Wajda .

In Poland, the film aroused controversial statements even before it was released. B. wanted Anna Walentynowicz to have the shooting prohibited by a court. Walentynowicz was never approached until filming began and found some passages of the film unacceptable. She demanded that the following be shown before and after each screening: "This film was made against the will of Anna Walentynowicz" and demanded a million dollars in compensation from the German director. In contrast, the “father” of the Polish history film, Andrzej Wajda, praised the film.

Strajk - The Heroine of Gdansk was released in German cinemas on March 8, 2007, and in Poland it was released in February. The film received the rating “particularly valuable” from the film evaluation office . Arte produced an audio description of the film for television broadcasts . The image descriptions are spoken by Jan Gebauer. In 2009 the production was nominated for the German Audio Film Award.

criticism

“The film […] spans […] an arc from 1961 to the present, but gets lost in the details of the biography based on the authentic figure, without adding them to an exciting plot or forming a plausible character. Even the actress can hardly win over for the character, in addition there is a narrative attitude and a camera that stay at a distance. The influence of the worker on the formation of the free trade union also remains shadowy and seems rather coincidental. "

- Lexicon of International Films

“[...] a loving epic about a little heroine of the story who soon fell into oblivion with the rise of her colleague Lech Wałęsa to become a political star. Schlöndorff [...] created the respectable attempt not to come to terms with the Polish past from the outside, but to illustrate a universally valid, political and existential principle: whoever does not defend himself lives wrong. "

- Jan Schulz-Ojala : in dialogue. German-Polish Magazine , 76/2006

“The film treats a crucial moment in the history of Poland with sensitivity and great emotional power. The film has wonderful imagery and an extraordinary actress plays the leading role. A 'risen' Schlöndorff. "

- Excerpt from the jury's statement of the Saturno d'Oro

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Strajk - The heroine of Danzig . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2007 (PDF; test number: 107 653 K).
  2. ^ Strajk - The heroine of Danzig in the audio film database of Hörfilm e. V.
  3. ↑ 7th German Audio Film Award 2009
  4. ^ Strajk - The heroine of Danzig in the Lexicon of International Films
  5. ↑ quoted from Strajk website , viewed December 18, 2006
  6. ↑ quoted from the Strajk website