CONTENTS International Competition Jury Films Cinema of the ...

The Burial of a Potato
1991, 96 minutes
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Screenplay: Jan Jakub Kolski
Camera: Wojciech Todorow
Editor: Ewa Pakulska
Sound: Norbert Zbigniew Medlewski
Art Direction: Jacek Turewicz
Production: Irzykowski Film Studio
Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Adam Ferency, Mariusz Saniternik, Ewa
Zukowska, Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Boguslaw Sochnacki, Grzegorz
Herominski
Synopsis
Spring 1946. Mateusz, an old harness- maker, returns to his
native village from a concentration camp form Germany . He
finds his house empty, all his property stolen, and the
neighbours are hostile to him in a strange way. Barely coping
with difficulties and humiliations, he regains part of his lost
property. But the aggressive behaviour of the people around him
is on the increase. They attempt to set his house on fire and shoot
him. They justify their acts by maintaining that Mateusz is a Jew.
In part, their animosity is caused by the fear that their share in the
land to be distributed free of charge among the peasants would
be smaller than expected. But this is not the most important
reason. The enmity of the villagers is the result of their sense of guilt
for the death of Mateusz's son. They allowed a young lieutenant to
die rather than be suspected of collaborating with the anticommunist
underground movement, which would be tantamount
to losing their claim on the dreamt of piece of land.
In an act of retaliation, the old harness -maker digs out his son's
body and forces the three most responsible peasants to form a
funereal span. They are made to haul the carriage to the
cemetery to give their victim a proper burial.