The HKIFF kicked off to a good start for me with a film called "In the Name of ..."(W imie) (2013) by Polish director Malgoska Szumowska. It's a sensitively made film about the struggle of a Polish country priest who did double duty both as a village priest Father Adam (Andrzej Chyra) and also the head of a church run reformatory school for boys with behavioral problems. He had been a drinker and a womanizer before but had since turned over a new leaf when he realized one day that what his father told him about his life being empty, words which struck him like a sledge hammer. He had since become a very devout priest who cared nothing for fame or power and whose only passion is to help those who had gone astray as he did before.
As the film opens, we first hear off screen the noises of a group of
kids trying to taunt and make fun of a young adult village idiot, the
foster brother of one of the inmates Lukasz until they were stopped by Lukasz and we see how Father Adam, who'd dress in brand name jeans and sport shoes, silently influence the boys and correct their "unacceptable" behavior at the football field, always treating them as fellow human beings with problems and not as little "devils", a model of a modern day Christ. We then see him jogging amidst the sparse leaves of the tall trees of the Polish countryside woodlands in the evening, sweating but keeping on. WE're then shown him giving a thoughtful sermon to the half empty village chapel saying that each one has a tiny silent spot within himself, something he did not even know exists, something dark and mysterious and that it is the duty of everyone to find that out and to develop it because that is where they may hope to find God and start to grow.
Then one day, we also see how Eva, the wife of his sports teacher Michal, a former seminarian who failed to make it because he fell in love with Eva, who now followed him to that same Polish village in the middle of nowhere, found its life dull, would ask the men at the bars, which has become her favourite haunt, to dance with her. She dragged out Adam who reluctantly obliged. The following day, she brought Father Adam a cake and apologised to him for making a fool of herself. But later she went to see Father Adam more often and told him how bored she was and offered to make love with him, something which Father Adam understandingly and politely refused.
Then we see the boys taunting Eva as the village drunk and again, Lukasz stood out against them, got into a fight with the other boys and then appeared at the door of Father Adam who took care of his bruises and allowed him to stay the night at his house. Next we see Father Adam taking the boys for a swim at the river. Every one jumped into the water and had fun. When it was Lukasz's turn, he hesitated but then summoned up courage and jumped. He did not resurface after several minutes. Everybody jumped in and finally got him out, almost drowned. He did not know how to swim! Then one day, he asked Father Adam to teach him how to swim, something he did with great patience. The strain of taking care of the boys proved too much. Father Adam started to drink again and danced all alone with rock music after he got drunk. But no one knew except his married sister whom he tried to call from time to time. She was his only emotional outlet.
A new arrival came, a blond boy who challenged the strongest amongst the boys to an forearm pressing contest and won and who took a fancy to Babun, one of Father Adam's charges and had sex with Babun at his spare dormitory, when he was out jogging, an occurrence he accidentally discovered when he returned. He pretended not to have seen it. Later, he heard Babun's confession and as a penance, he asked him to jog an hour a day saying that jogging could also be a form of prayer. Is that why he too jogs an hour a day? Then one of the boys committed suicide. That proved too much. He drank again and after that, danced to rock music in his underwear. Then on the way back from taking the boys out for some building work, Lukasz got down from his car and suddenly ran into the passing cornfields. Not seeing him return after a while, Father Adam went down to look for him. And not having found him and hearing the sound of some animal calls, he hollered back, animal-like on and beat his breast like an ape and then laughed at what his own silliness. He was a child again. Then when eventually he found Luksz, he felt a certain bond between them. He could no longer resist his natural inclination to have oral sex with him. But this was seen by Michal, who recognized his car with just Lukasz's face on the windscreen. Michal made a secret report to the local bishop. Shortly thereafter, Father Adam was transferred to work elsewhere. As the film ends, we see the house of the new parish priest burned down and Lucacz, who accidentally overheard from his workmates where Father Adams was, went to seek him out. As the film ends, we see Lucasz walking amongst some seminarian on the grounds of the local seminary.
The film was very understated. The photography by Michal Englett was excellent. So was the acting. If there is any message in the film, the director seems to be saying that we're all sinners. Whether there is or is not a cassock over one's body really doesn't make such difference. We're all human. Perhaps that's the meaning of the film's title "In the name..." which is the form of words used when the priest administers the Holy Eucharist "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Sprit..." It was Jesus who said at the Last Supper, "Take this, this is my body": Jesus offered his body for the sake of sinners. Is Father Adam offering his body to his charges for the same purpose? Or is is just doing so "in name" only?
沒有留言:
張貼留言