08/07/2017

A Tale of Human Nature

“Birds Sing in Kigali” by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze has resonated with the audience at the Karlovy Vary film festival. The film is a warning against hate and manipulating the emotions of the masses, but Czech audiences noticed also the multi-faceted nature of this universal story of trauma and suffering.

“As we were shooting this difficult, demanding film, amidst the swamps and the dust, I promised the girls that one day we will put on high heels again. And finally that day has come,” – said the director to a packed audience at the Thermal hotel theatre. After years of labor, “Birds Sing in Kigali” debuted in Karlovy Vary, where Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze once triumphed with “My Nikifor”, and where they presented “Savior Square” and “Papusza”.

– Every festival wants its filmmakers to return with their new work – said Karel Och, the festival’s artistic director. I can tell you with all honesty: as soon as I saw “Birds…” I became anxious that someone else might snatch it up. The film defies patterns, it is a perfect mix of an important subject, a potent story, and rigorous, distinct, auteur cinema. Which is why when we received the confirmation from its producers, I was the happiest person in all of Czechia. And today I feel profoundly sad, Because Krzysztof Krauze is not among us.

The director died in December 2014. He managed the prepare the documentation for the film together with Joanna Kos-Krauze. They also wrote the screenplay together. He was there for the first few days of shooting, but he was already very week. After that, Joanna took over. She created a dry, hard-hitting story with a vulnerable streak.

Hard-hitting tale of trauma, racism, and women’s issues, but also one about the extremes of human nature – Laurence Boyce, “Screen International”

The film begins in Rwanda. Anna Keller is a Polish ornithologist who studies Rwanda’s dwindling vulture population. It is April 1994. The genocide begins. Hutus murder Anna’s friend and co-worker with machetes right in front of her. Fleeing from the carnage, she rescues the daughter of a murdered professor. Once they reach Poland, she helps her obtain refugee status.

Joanna Kos-Krauze deftly shifts points of view. She shows the world through the eyes of both the Pole and the Rwandan. The latter is not looking for mercy. Suffering breaks her only briefly, when she tries to commit suicide. But then she gets up again. She still has unfinished business. She wants to return to Africa and bury her close ones. The director subtly builds the relationship between the two traumatized women whose everyday life is laced with pain. Shows their struggle for dignity. But can one save humanity in a post-genocidal world?

– I come from a country that has experienced the Holocaust. It is our duty to ask about the roots of genocide, about the source of this violence – said Joanna Kos-Krauze at a press conference when a Belgian reporter expressed surprise that a Polish woman decided to tackle an African story. And before the official premiere, she said: “We have to take a close look at what is going on in Europe right now, at the direction in which we are headed.” Because, unsettlingly, this film also reflects our current dramas and dilemmas.

“Everything starts with words” – reminds the author in a time when hate speech is rampant in the media, parliaments, and on church pulpits. And her protagonist struggles onscreen with the indifference of 1990s Polish bureaucracy. “This slaughter was orchestrated by dicks like you. Except ones educated at the Sorbonne” – yells Anna to an immigration official. It’s difficult not to draw parallels to the hypocrisy of today’s politicians. Maybe that’s also why “Birds…” was received so well in Karlovy Vary?

– It’s an important film in light of the refugee crisis and the current state of Europe – says Stas Tyrkin, a film critic for “Komsomolska Prawda”. – I see in it a return to the great tradition of Polish cinema of old, which I miss so much. It is visually intriguing, it has a laser-sharp script, and the acting is phenomenal.

Return to the great tradition of Polish cinema – Stas Tyrkin, “Komsomolska Prawda”

This praise for the actors is echoed in nearly every review. “Jowita Budnik gives a master class in subtle understatement as Anna, filled with emotions that simmer just under the surface, ready to boil over at any point. The Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire is also a revelation. She brings to the screen a subdued dignity and a festering inner anger” – writes Laurence Boyce for “Screen International”. He calls the film a hard-hitting tale of trauma, racism, and women’s issues, but also one about the extremes of human nature. And that’s what the Karlovy Vary audience noticed above all: that despite how current the film is, it also remains thoroughly universal.

“The Polish filmmakers not only find analogies between the horrors of war in Rwanda and Poland, but also explore the cruelty of the natural order of things” notes Ed Meza in “Variety”, and Evgeny Gusyatinsky adds: “It’s not just politics. This film strikes a deeper chord. It is visually hypnotizing. Watching these quasi-documentary shots I became convinced that it was based on a real story.” And indeed, Krzysztof Ptak’s, Wojciech Staroń’s and Józefina Gocman’s claustrophobic cinematography is breathtaking.

“Birds Sing in Kigali” have made a big splash in this year’s competition. “It is one of the most subtle and laconic films in the program. Devoid of sentimentality and subdued, a tale about the consequences of genocide, regardless of when and where it takes place. It might be the best film in the lineup” – notes a film critic from Aktualne.cz. Because Czechs, Hungarians, and Poles also understand the trauma of war and genocide. And see what’s going on around them today. Here, “Birds Sing in Kigali” sounds like a warning. But the Krauzes have always explored these themes: respect for others, sensitivity, basic decency. Except Krzysztof isn’t here anymore to remind us – in his gentle but firm voice – about these key values.

—Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Karlovy Vary (translated by Wojciech Góralczyk)

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