Polanski, Horowitz. Hometown
16 May 2023
Directors: Mateuz Kudla and Anna Kokoszka-Romer
See
Him: Director Roman Poland and photographer Ryszard Horowitz were childhood friends who survived the Jewish Ghetto and Auschwitz concentration camp. They meet again as old men in Krakow, walk and talk, reminisce, laugh and grieve.
Her: Polanski, Horowitz. Hometown. A documentary that took the two famous polish artists on a trip to their hometown in Krakow after almost 60 years since they were growing there together during the time of war and holocaust.
Think
Him: Polanski is divisive. To write his name is synonymous with being conceited of raping an underage girl, and being one of the original persona non-gratas. But as this documentary shows, before that, and being the most in/famous Polish director, a widower whose first wife was murdered he was a little Jewish boy who lived through the holocaust in Krakow, with his friend Rysiek.
Her: Great idea for the doco, it’s more than just a simple walk with two famous people who’ve been friends since they were kids. By sending them back to their hometown where they haven’t been together since their childhood, the authors literally send them back in time to relive those difficult memories, some of which they’re still struggling to revisit.
Feel
Him: From the outset it’s funny. Polanski asks the driver from the airport to pull over so he can trim Horowitz’s nose hair. They’re men in their eighties. They visit Roman’s father’s grave and he recounts the experience but with black humour of how life and death can be a tragicomedy. They’re living memory of a town that was and an awful history that happened. But it did not break their spirits. They’re constantly laughing. It fired their creativity and they transmuted trauma into art. They did not just survive, but thrive. There are layers, to the walk and talk, additional interviewing done so there’s voice over to the footage, Horotwitz photos are stunningly shown as he take pictures later developed in a dark room scene, archival footage well used. But their friendship is immediate as there responding to the stimulus in front of them and the memories they trigger. Polanski merrily directs the directors and they break the fourth wall because he’s an Oscar winner and they’re too busy filming the talent’s faces than the right shot of the Wawel castle they’re talking about. I’ve been there. In the rynek, stary miasto, Kazimiersz, the Jewish Quarter, the former ghetto. But this film made history come alive like other art cannot. It’s similar to Collette, the Oscar winning Guardian newspaper’s documentary about a French resistance fighter bonding with a young girl becoming the custodian of her family’s history. There is dark subject matter, but it’s ultimately uplifting because these friends navigate it together. The filmmakers tracked down the descendent of the family who gave Polanski sanctuary, ‘what do you want a medal or something?’ Yes, from the Jewish state of Israel for service to humanity, please.
Her: The way this movie is made really makes you feel like you’re there with Polanski and Horowitz walking through the sights of their past. Roman, being taken out of his non-polish context and also speaking only polish, appears almost unrecognisable: it is hard to believe that this little funny and sometimes sad man endured so much in his life on top of the horror he experienced and survived during his early years. It was interesting to see where it all began.
