[bells tolling]
KRAKÓW, SEPTEMBER, 1939
Karol, change up with Krystyna.
They destroyed our air force. 500 planes pulverised before they could take off.
I heard it before they bombed the radio station.
I'm taking Wislawa to Wadowice and then I'll join the army.
Wislawa, you're Jewish.
Jews should leave Poland if they can.
Wadowice is a small, quiet town. Jews won't be in any danger there.
Tomasz, will you look after my father? I want to join the army, too.
Of course. I'll take him to the rectory with me.
You always told me you could never be a soldier.
I never imagined anything like this.
What are you going to do, Wiktor?
All the last-year medical students have been asked to go to the hospital.
What do you think is going to happen?
If the world gets taken over by evil men,
we won't have any voice left or tears to shed.
But we must never lose hope.
[air-raid siren]
- Karol! - Jerzy!
Jerzy!
I'm going back to Wadowice if I can find a train.
I'll pick up my father and we can join the army.
[machine-gun fire]
[screaming]
- Professor! Professor Wojcik! - I'm going to the university.
- The chancellor said to lock it up. - We have valuable books there.
I'll put them in the basement in case they bomb us.
- I'll go with you. - We're all coming.
What will happen to your sister, mother and grandma when you and your father leave?
The Nazis won't bother with women.
You Klugers are Jews. Jews are in great danger.
We are Poles. We'll kick the Nazis out of our country.
What's wrong?
- What's wrong? - I'm scared.
Please go and hide in Wadowice.
And be careful.
I'm so scared.
[pounding artillery fire]
Listen to me. Come to the rectory with me.
There you are, Karol. You're late.
Tomasz, thank God you're here. I was...
- What's that? - What does it look like?
My old military jacket. I'm going to join the army.
No.
No, Dad. It's my turn to go and fight, not yours.
You will stay nice and safe with Tomasz in the rectory.
Please do as Karol says, Mr Wojtyla.
I want Mother to be proud of me.
Mother would have asked me to stop you.
Please...can't you try to talk some sense into him?
You know what he's like. Please.
Mr Wojtyla, listen to me. You are too old for this sort of thing.
No, but your body isn't as strong as your heart and soul still are.
- I'm ready. - What should I do?
Protect him and watch out for yourself.
- Unum cor et anima una. - Unum cor et anima una.
- Are you all right? - Uh-huh.
- Let me carry you. What's your name? - Jozef.
- Up you go, Jozef! - [woman] Jozef!
- I thought I'd lost you. - I twisted my ankle.
- You don't have to carry him. - Leave his foot. Karol has strong shoulders.
My sister-in-law has a farm near Mielec. We are going there.
I'm going to herd the cows. My grandma has a piano, but it's out of tune.
Jozef was taking piano lessons with the priest at Saint Bartholomew's.
I'm honoured carrying a Chopin on my shoulders.
WADOWlCE
[plays melancholy melody]
- [door opens] - [girl] May we?
Hania.
- And Karol? - He left with his father to enlist.
- Jerzy! I'm leaving. - So are we. We're heading for...
- I'm so happy you came. - So am I.
We're going through Myslenice.
Wislawa kissed me.
[Jusek and Jerzy] Unum cor et anima una.
[plays wistful melody]
Karol, will you give me some water, please?
Have you got a fever? Dad, you are burning up.
What are you talking about? I never had fever a day of my life.
[car horns toot]
Jusek! That's Jusek.
[Karol] Jusek!
Excuse me, it's... Jusek, wait!
- Karol! - Jusek!
- What a surprise! - Jusek!
- We are going to Rzeszow to join up. - So are we.
- Do you have room for my dad? - I wish I did.
Have you seen Hania?
Sure, she arrived safe in Wadowice.
She talks about you all the time.
Karol, this storm too will pass.
Here. Keep this.
- For good luck. See you on the front. - Yes.
- Unum cor et anima una. - Unum cor et anima una.
[cheering]
God bless you!
"Blinded by smoke, I see held on their shoulders
like a coffin along a colonnade
your piano falling, falling."
- What did he say? - Hello, Jozef.
- How is your ankle? - Fine.
I was quoting our greatest poet, Norwid.
During the revolt Russian soldiers were killing people and smashing things.
They threw Chopin's piano out of the window into a fire.
Some men picked it up and carried it to safety.
I would have given my life to save Chopin's piano, too.
I know. That's why the poet is telling us that our homeland can never be destroyed.
Never.
Father!
- This is the altar of your homeland? - Yes.
And this is where you celebrate the victory
of the Polish army over the Teutonic knights?
- And this is where Poles pray for freedom? - Yes, it is.
This masterpiece was crafted by a German.
Peter van der Rennen, from Danzig.
And these angels, they come from the masters of Augsburg.
We walk on German soil, priest.
You just met the Governor-General, Reich Minister Hans Frank.
His orders are to close the cathedral to the public. I'm sorry.
You're sorry?
We have to clear this place.
Where are you going?
- This church belongs to the people. - Kraków is full of churches.
This is the cathedral.
The cathedral is part of Wawel Castle. Wawel is my residence now.
It doesn't belong to the Poles any more.
So this is my church.
If you call yourself a Christian,
you should know that this a place for the soul, not for your boots.
Macke!
This Polish priest is starting to bore me.
Please, you have to leave now.
Oh, hello.
Do you have any medicine? My dad has a fever.
No, I don't have anything.
- I know somebody who does. - Really?
Yeah.
Here you are.
Jozef, thank you very much. Thank you.
I'm very grateful to you, young sir.
- It's cold today, isn't it? - Where's your jacket?
I gave it to my brother. He was very wet.
- Here. - Thank you.
- [father] He looks like Edmund. - Who is Edmund?
- My older brother. - Is he dead?
He was a doctor. He died of a disease he was treating in a hospital.
- Do you miss him? - Yes.
- Very much so. I really loved him. - So, I will become a doctor one day.
- I thought you wanted to play the piano. - I can do both.
And your mother? Is she dead, too?
When I was about your age.
But I still talk to her.
And when I close my eyes, I can feel her hands stroking my hair.
Jozef!
Give the jacket back to the gentleman.
- Can I keep it a bit longer? - As long as you want.
- Until I'm grown up? - Yes, until you're a grown-up.
And I will give you this.
Oh. What is it about?
There's a story in there I like, about the snake and the clock-maker.
- Will you read it to me? - Yes. Yes, of course.
"One day, a starving snake went into the clock-maker's shop."
- "Finding nothing to eat..." - [fighter engines drone]
Jozef!
[screaming]
Oh, God!
[weeping]
[sobs]
[Hania] Karol, I don't know where you are.
Whether you have enrolled or have reached the Free Poland area,
or if you are still alive.
Wadowice, our dear Wadowice, no longer exists.
It's transfigured overnight.
Continuous rounding up of people.
Tomasz was right. The Jews are in terrible danger.
There is talk of closing them up in ghettos.
The Gestapo has occupied the Kluger residence, throwing the women out.
l somehow helped to hide them.
Hania! I know where you're going.
I want to see Tesia. Take me with you.
Come on.
- Hania! - I have a surprise for you.
Tadek!
You shouldn't have come. You know what they do to Poles who...
Shh. I can't live without you.
Tesia, look!
It's hauka!
You are a good person, a good person.
Grandma!
Smell it.
[sighs]
Tesia made me a present.
Let me show you.
[hums wistful melody]
Mrs Rozalia, I would like to take Tesia out of here.
I will hide her at my parents' house.
You have to go with him.
I love you, but I can't leave my mother and my grandmother.
- Tesia, please. - No.
We'll leave this place together when all of this is over.
[Hania] Were it not for our unfortunate friends, Karol,
I'd leave immediately and find you wherever you might be.
- There. We made it, Dad. - Yeah.
Look. We're almost there.
[father] Our best divisions are on the other side of the river.
That's where our liberation will come from.
Stay where you are! Go back! Go back!
The Russians have invaded our border.
Hitler and Stalin made a pact.
The Red Army has betrayed us.
They don't take prisoners.
Go back! Go back!
Dad, come on.
- Come on, Dad. - Leave me here.
Dad, we have to go now.
Go away to Kraków. Go on, go.
I told you to leave me here.
- That's enough. - Stop it, Dad.
Save yourself. Go on!
Get out of here!
Dad! Stop it!
Just let them kill me.
- Dad... - That's all...
- Dad, stop it... - That's all... That's all...
Stop it!
Take hold, Dad.
Mama wouldn't like to see you like this. Come on.
You're back! What happened?
Mrs Antol, could you please come and help me?
I'm going to get Dr Zweig.
Mr Wojtyla?
- Have you seen Wiktor Milosz? - No.
- What's happening here? - Wojcik wants us in assembly.
Krystyna!
- Thank God the university is open again. - What happened to you?
I'm looking for Wiktor. My dad is sick and Dr Zweig wasn't in.
The Nazis took him. And some stinking Poles have moved into his apartment.
- Right. - Wiktor is working at the hospital. I'll take you.
- All right. - Karol.
They're organising an underground army. We all ought to join up.
Watch what you say. There are spies among us.
Spies? I can't believe anyone could do that.
Here we are in the very cradle of our history, our common roots, our language.
- Nobody betrays his own mother. - [Wojcik] Who is betraying his mother?
Oh, Professor... I was talking about our mother tongue.
You pay for freedom with your whole being.
That is why you will call freedom that which,
while paying for it, helps you to know and control yourself over and over.
You wrote that, didn't you, Karol?
Yes. I am embarrassed and honoured that you remember it.
Wojtyla is right.
We will pay for freedom with tears and blood.
The Reich Governor, Hans Frank, has moved into Wawel,
former residence of the Piast, the Jagiellon.
This Nazi intellectual has declared
Poland has a king and the Poles are his slaves
with no rights and only one duty, to obey.
You have to resist in whatever way you deem right.
Talk it over among yourselves. Decide according to your conscience.
But we have to resist!
- Long live freedom! - [all] Long live freedom!
Long live Poland!
Long live Poland! Long live Poland!
Long live Poland!
Three more shots like this, Mr Wojtyla, and you can play soccer again.
I have never played soccer.
I don't believe you. You've missed out on life's greatest pleasure.
Get better first and then you can find out.
Well said, Mrs Antol.
It's almost impossible to find quinine sulphate,
but for Wiktor Milosz nothing is impossible.
Give him a tablet three times a day until the fever goes down.
I'll come back tomorrow.
- How much do I owe you? - That's OK.
I'll charge you a fortune once I'm famous.
You take care, now, Mr Wojtyla.
Goodbye.
[Karol] Hania, dear, I'm so anxious to have news from you and Wadowice.
l read and write all day long.
My father is better, but we are short of money.
I seldom see Tomasz. He's with those who have lost all.
Kraków cries with the tears of orphans and widows.
A silent, suffering city.
I'm so scared.
When possible, we attend Professor Wojcik's lessons
and hope to find out what's happening in Europe.
The German Governor, Hans Frank,
called the entire faculty to discuss their programmes.
The university was closed to the students, but Wiktor and I went all the same.
[man speaking German]
No, wait.
Out this way.
I would like to have more time...
..a lot of time...
..an eternity, really...
..to talk with you.
You are Kraków's intellectual elite.
I'd like to discuss Plato with you.
I'd like to talk about Rome.
I studied in Rome.
I would like to read Nietzsche and Goethe.
But I don't have time.
I don't have time.
You know my dream?
To make Wawel an island of civilisation and civility...
..in the heart of Slavic barbarity.
[all shout]
But you Poles,
especially you intellectuals...
..are born conspirators.
No.
Poland will remain silent.
Like a corpse.
I have decided to close down all schools and universities,
newspapers and artistic associations.
And I will destroy Polish libraries.
What good are schools, universities and libraries to you?
You have no country. You have no culture.
[Frank] Children who look Nordic
will be taken from their families and raised as Germans.
The others will work hard and eat little.
And eventually they'll die.
And Poland will die with them.
Poland will never die!
Poland will live! Long live Poland!
If you try to escape, you'll be doing me a favour.
You'll be shot.
- Let's get out of here. - No.
How many of you are there?
187. Good.
You won't be handcuffed,
but you will go quietly to the trucks
and get in one by one.
[Wojcik] I see that your fists are clenched, Mr Frank.
You think that you hold life clenched in those fists.
Take a look again. They're empty.
You stand up there and you talk to us.
You have not yet realised that all life has left you.
When you do, it will be too late.
Then you will remember the words of Wojcik,
professor of Polish philology.
- Shoot him. - [man speaking German]
[Karol] Wojcik taught us that weakness is only refusal of accepting defeat.
The professors who were not killed are now dying in the Sachsenhausen camp.
We are surrounded by madness and suffering.
Hania, you've no idea what hell prevails in the Kraków ghetto.
Either they starve to death,
die of tuberculosis, dysentery...
They die of every disease you can think of unless they commit suicide or get murdered.
This way.
Do you know what a rat hunt is? It's a Nazi expression.
There are holes in the ghetto walls
which only skinny little kids can squeeze through...little rats.
They pick through the garbage looking for something to eat
and the Nazis take pot-shots at them...for fun.
[whistles]
You will see. A little rat is about to come out.
OK. Now.
- How are you doing, Simon? - Hungry.
- Ah! - Ah!
All I've got is medicine. I'll try to bring some potatoes tomorrow.
[woman screaming]
[soldier shouts orders in German]
[soldier shouts in German]
That's Eli Singer the carpenter and his brother Chaim.
They won't need their clothes any more.
[man shouts orders in German]
What's the matter? Where are you going?
- It's all right. Don't worry. - [soldier speaks German]
Where is he taking you?
Pray to the Black Madonna for me.
This way.
[clock chiming]
- And you are...? - I'm Father Tomasz Zaleski.
Hm.
I see that even handsome boys become priests in Poland.
Ah. The priest from the cathedral. Excuse me for being late.
I hear you have confessed some of my officers.
I would like you to hear my confession, too, ja?
But I promised my guests the deer we shot in Radziwillow woods.
One bullet, right between the eyes.
Please spare us the details. You will spoil my appetite.
So...you can hear my confession after lunch.
- What is your name? - Tomasz Zaleski.
Zaleski.
Zaleski will be joining us for lunch.
You can witness the sins of our gluttony with your own eyes.
No, thank you. I...
I'll wait outside.
I would never have a priest wait outside while I'm eating.
Please.
Will you do us the honours, my dear?
So, tell me, Zaleski.
How much Polish hatred do you listen to in your confessions?
- I listen to Polish suffering. - You want to know the truth, priest?
Where there's no culture, there can't be any suffering.
Only instincts.
The Polish people will eventually love us.
- Right now they're asleep. - I love you and you're asleep.
[laughter]
They say that Polish women don't wash very often.
It's not their fault. They don't have any soap.
They can't use that excuse much longer.
We've found a way to make soap out of something that doesn't cost a pfennig.
Excellent soap with nice silky foam.
I've already put in a large order for these Polish ladies.
Soap made out of excrement.
You are not laughing?
- I can't stay here. - Sit down!
Come, now. Sit down.
You are going to make him mad.
Come, now.
I have ordered the families of the dead in the ghetto to pay for their funerals.
Hm. I'm sure the mortality rate will drop from one day to the next.
Exactly. It has dropped.
All Jews are sick.
Sick people have a tendency to wallow in filth.
Hm. Filth is their natural flavouring. They are a decadent race.
A bunch of degenerates,
incapable of raising and taking care of their children like we do in Germany.
Pigs.
Jewish children are not children.
What did you say?
German children are clean.
Jewish children are dirty.
German children have teeth.
Jewish children don't have any teeth.
German children sleep on mattresses.
Jewish children next to tables laid out with the dead.
German children play.
Jewish children in the ghettos don't know how to play.
They really are degenerate children.
Their only entertainment
is to go watch their parents, brothers and sisters being shot.
Their only fun is watching their mothers being murdered.
German children smile.
Jewish children don't smile.
German children walk. Jewish children don't walk.
You'll never teach them how to smile and how to walk,
even if you try to make them obey by whipping them!
Never.
Don't you know that Jewish children don't have legs?
Jewish children have wings!
You might as well have me shot.
Polish priests! How do they do it, huh?
They have wings?
Huh? Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!
Cheep-cheep! Cheep!
- What are you writing? - A play.
- About what? - Sorrow.
[Hania] I'm leaving now, Karol, to reach you.
If you can, meet me on the road for Czestochowa.
What I have to tell you is so atrocious,
I don't have any tears left. No heart left.
[men shouting in German]
[Hania] You remember the synagogue in Wadowice?
We could see it from the Klugers' hiding place.
[grandmother] Tesia!
Tesia!
What was that?
Nothing, Grandma.
They blew up an unexploded bomb.
[sobs]
Get out of here before they find you, my love.
Get out of here.
They are beginning to take away old people and the sick.
What for?
Where do they take them? Do they look after them?
I don't know.
I wasn't prepared for any of this.
Why doesn't anybody speak up in the rest of the world?
People who keep quiet while others are murdered
are just as bad as the murderers.
- Jusek's dead, isn't he? - No.
He promised to write me.
Maybe he did it, but his letters never reached me.
Will you give me a kiss, please?
[Hania] Wislawa's unstaring eyes frightened me.
Those big, beautiful eyes of hers were empty now.
They had turned to ashes.
When they started the deportations to Auschwitz and Belzec,
the Gestapo found the Klugers.
I arrived there with Tadek that very day.
[men shouting in German]
Don't touch her!
[screams]
[Hania] When evil is only imagined, you can live with it,
but when it's manifest before your eyes, there is no way out.
- [dogs bark] - [men shouting in German]
[screams]
Play something! Play!
[plays melancholy melody]
[screams]
[sobs]
[screams]
Why?
Why do these horrors repeat themselves...
..only they get worse?
What is it that makes eyes, hearts and minds...
..so incapable of feeling pity and respect?
Who are these human beings
who have mothers and sisters and children,
who have husbands and wives they hug at night?
Are these creatures made in God's image, Karol?
Where is God?
[people singing hymn]
[Krystyna] You, Mary, are queen of Poland
and God has made Czestochowa your throne.
Defend us, be our shield,
make us strong so that we can drive back the enemy.
Come to our rescue.
Bring us peace.
[hymn continues]
[Karol] Why don't I have an answer?
Why does man force another human being to live in absolute pain?
Without hope?
How can we answer to all this?
How many millions of monsters are there on this earth, Tomasz?
Why must the innocent pay?
How many more innocents still have to be born just to be exterminated?
I was staring those Nazis in the eyes.
The evil I saw there was so radical...
..so incomprehensible...obscene.
And I felt like killing them.
And I'm a priest.
I feel guilty about that.
I don't want to hate like they do.
Love.
Only love can keep men from falling into an abyss.
Where were you today?
I was standing in line to get us some bread.
There was none left.
Every time you go out, I'm afraid you'll never come back.
I have to go out, Dad.
- We have to eat. We have to live. - Hm.
[knock at door]
[knocking continues]
- Who's there? - Tomasz.
What are you doing out after the curfew?
How are you feeling, Mr Wojtyla?
Back to my old self once again. Well, almost.
Karol, I've found you a job in a quarry.
Here. Without this they'll deport you.
Thank you.
Are those all work permits?
Work permits and forged baptismal certificates for Jews.
Bring us some of Wiktor's vodka, Karol.
A medical student brought it to me when I finished my quinine.
He said it would have exactly the same effect.
Thank you, but I can't. I have to go.
No, no, no.
[both] Unum cor et anima una.
You're strong.
- What quarry did you work in before? - I'm a student.
A student? Don't like students.
A bunch of smart alecs who don't know anything about real life.
All right, I'm a worker, then.
- You are late. - I'm sorry.
We're thinking about joining one of the armed groups. All of us.
I'm not. You fight with weapons, I want to fight with words.
Our theatre has to go on.
Where? What stage? What audience?
Our theatre has to go underground, in apartments, basements.
We must keep the word alive.
Poland's in the grip of terror and insanity and you want to put on plays?
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
- The only thing left is to take up arms. - Yes!
The word's mightier than the bullet.
- Try that with a gun pointed at your head. - And you, Karol?
- We are going now. - Armed resistance!
Armed resistance!
Wait. Wait.
I understand and respect people who resort to weapons.
The Nazis exterminate people and want to exterminate our culture too.
They want to wipe out the Polish language.
But the only way we will be able to have a future is if we save our past.
But whoever chooses weapons has every right to do so.
Kotlarczyk is right, too.
We have to keep our culture alive.
Let's take the theatre underground.
Because remember...
..theatre is the conscience of life.
You will have your theatre and we will have our guns.
All right.
We are fighting the same battle...
with the same hope against the same evil.
- OK. - Come on.
- Unum cor et anima una.
Unum cor et anima una.
I'm sorry.
Excuse me, I know it's late.
I am Karol Wojtyla. I have to speak to Miss Tuszynska.
I don't allow my lodgers to receive men in their rooms.
This is urgent and serious and I won't be long.
Tuszynska!
This gentleman apparently has something urgent and serious to say to you.
- Do you know him? - Yes, Mrs Bialek.
- All right, but leave the door open. - Thank you.
I know you're brave
and... I know that you have been hurt so much that you want revenge...
No.
The word you want is justice, not revenge.
Yes, you're right. Justice.
But I know you so well.
No matter how strong and brave you are,
how hard you think you are now,
you're the same little girl
who used to get all mixed up and depressed by people's lies and violence.
I'm not that little girl any more.
Your heart hasn't changed.
And killing won't come easily to you.
You and I aren't cowards, you know that. Just the opposite.
The truth is, we'd rather get killed instead of killing.
I don't want you to get killed.
Have you said what you came to say?
No.
Yes, he has.
She says you have.
Please.
Slow, slow.
That's good. Stop now.
Hey. Your book.
Books!
These are times for blood and rifles.
There's always time for books.
We're waiting for Hania. I knew it.
I told you she wouldn't come. Magda will play her part.
- Let's wait a few more minutes. - What's wrong? Don't you like my acting?
No, that's not what I mean. It's just that...
Here she is.
[Kotlarczyk] The music even louder grew and faster.
The suddenly false chord from the master.
Like hissing snakes or shattering glass
that chilled their hearts and with a dire foreboding filled.
And even louder grew the music roar and you could hear...
Wojtyla is my best friend.
What do you do?
- I'm a concert pianist. - Uh-huh. I break stones.
Soon they lifted up their hands again...
[man shouts in German]
And from trumpets to the heavens sped that march of triumph.
Poland is not dead.
[shouting in German]
[singing in Polish]
[speaks German]
Engagement.
The little rascals went and got engaged.
Nein, danke.
I'm the best man. Nowak's the name.
I was in love with this beautiful maid once, but she chose him instead.
So, what I mean is... I would like to say...congratulations.
And good luck.
[all sing in Polish]
RESISTANCE
[men shouting in German]
[soldier shouts in German]
In another life...
..Krystyna.
[gunshot]
They caught Wiktor and Krystyna.
They shot them on the spot.
I'm asking you to rid yourself of any compassion you might have.
We must exterminate Jews wherever we find them, every chance we get.
And we must eliminate Poles who help them, starting with priests.
Höss is up to 10,000 eliminations a day in Auschwitz. An excellent result.
- Why are you looking at me like that? - Like what?
Like someone who's not listening!
I was listening very carefully, Governor-General.
Good.
Very good.
[man shouts]
Where do you think you are going?
You want to get yourself shot in the street?
- Who are you? - Jan Tyranowski.
And who are you?
You're going to burn your fingers.
One goes out, another lights up.
If you feel you have to talk,
I can keep this up for as long as you like.
You...
You haven't told me your name yet.
Karol.
I have to go now. I'm looking for my friend.
- He's a priest. I need a mass said. - A mass for the dead?
We will win with love, not with guns.
How can you say that with Nazis outside the door?
The Nazis will disappear because evil will devour itself.
But...
But if love doesn't win out,
the Nazis will just come back under a different name.
- Is that what you mean? - Exactly.
St John of the Cross. For you, a surprise.
It will become your bedside reading.
Thank you.
[Karol] You're giving absolution to a Nazi?
History makes good people face terrible choices, too.
They feel like the walking dead because they've been forced to kill their souls first.
I'm here for them more than I am for you.
They killed Wiktor and Krystyna.
I know.
Don't go to their funerals.
The Nazis are just waiting for something like that to arrest all of you.
I'll come join you to celebrate a secret mass.
Tomasz...
But where is the line?
Where is the line that divides those who pay too little from those who pay too much?
And what side am I on?
I don't know.
You're on the side of those who have to hope.
The theatre... My life's dream is all over.
What do you mean?
I can't see anything any more for all the pain.
Everything's so...dark. So dark.
The world is blind and deaf.
Defending culture's not enough.
There's always a gun, but I'd never be able to kill anyone.
I told you,
you must never, ever lose hope.
You must never lose the marvellous meaning of life and love,
despite everything evil men are capable of.
[Karol] To get to where you are not,
you have to pass through where you are not.
To reach the place of possessing all, desire to possess nothing.
To reach the place of being all, desire to be nothing.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light...
I want to find the same reasons you have to believe and hope.
I want to enter a monastery.
Karol, in times like these, people need priests with them,
not shut up in some monastery.
I've been thinking about what I'm giving up.
I keep thinking about the choice,
the meaning of the choice I want to make.
And I wonder, is it because I want to hide?
Or because I feel guilty for all the pain I see?
Or is there something deeper?
Is God calling me?
John wrote in his Gospel that Jesus said,
"You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
The door is open. It's up to you now.
[Tomasz saying prayer in Latin]
- Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. - [all] Amen.
- Requiescant in pace. - [all] Amen.
The loss of loved ones is always devastating.
The ancients used to find consolation
by saying that the gods called their dearest back to themselves.
But faith is not a consolation. Faith gives meaning to life and death.
Here's to your generous life, Krystyna and Wiktor.
Here's to your courageous deaths.
They give meaning to the dreams...
..that you won't be able to tell us about any more.
[Karol] Faith is a dark night.
Faith is found in the darkness,
deep down in man,
where the mystery of God and love lies hidden.
Karol!
The dynamite!
Oh, good Christ.
You're so stupid. You'd die for your books.
- Are you all right? - Yes. Books are worth dying for.
You're a worker here. Chisel that into your thick skull.
Here. Put these on before you go blind.
- No, you keep them. - Do as you are told.
We'll need men like you with good eyesight when we start over again.
Nowak...
Dad, Mrs Gedrynska made a nice supper for you.
Dad?
[mourners sing softly]
I remember sitting on your knees
and you used to tell me stories about our heroes.
I liked hearing about the painter, Adam Chmielowski,
who lost his leg in the January Uprising.
You told me
that he gave up art
because he realised that...
..God was calling him to other things.
So he went to live among the disinherited
as someone who'd come to serve those who suffer.
You've left me all alone.
[Hania] Karol.
Have you been waiting for me in the rain all this time?
We're not made of sugar.
- What? - We're not made of sugar.
Karol would say that to me when I didn't want to play soccer in the rain.
I know. I was always there watching you.
Do you remember when we were rehearsing Romeo and Juliet for the school play?
Of course I do.
You were Juliet, and you Romeo.
- What else? The lead role. - And I wanted him to be Mercutio.
- Do you remember what you told me? - "I'd rather be a priest."
And I said, "But the priest is just a small role."
And I answered, "I'm not talking about the play. I'm talking about my life."
Having seen the full horror of these times,
everything has been pointing me towards something good.
The priesthood.
For the sake of every single person's dignity
and for the experience of knowing myself through the knowledge of God,
of living God from the inside.
I want to become a priest.
Out of the depths of this evil,
we must bear witness to the fact
that the divine meaning of life is more important than life itself.
That's why I'm here.
The Nazis have closed down the seminary. You're risking your life.
So not even your own mother is to know you'll be studying here.
You'll continue your life as usual but you'll study and meditate with us secretly
every free moment you have during the day.
Hey!
Young man...can you hear me?
Is there a doctor here? This boy's dying.
Ma'am?
- We'll handle this. - [woman] He's not German.
- We'll get him to a hospital. - It's better you don't touch him. He's Polish.
Don't worry.
Come with me. Come along.
So I'm not dead after all.
Tomasz.
- Jan. - Welcome back.
- Your book helped me to make a choice. - What choice?
The darkness...the light.
You have to get better fast. Our performances aren't the same without you.
- [Tomasz] I know the officer who helped you. - You know him?
He's married with three children.
Right now he's in a lot of danger.
He's been given a command that he has decided to refuse.
[soldier] I swore to die for the Third Reich.
I am proud to die for the real Germany.
Shame on you.
[officer shouts orders in German]
[shouts orders in German]
Thank you for helping me die, Father. I'm safe now.
I can see what Germany was like when I was a boy.
White houses along a river.
[officer shouts in German]
Get out of the way, Father. They're telling you to move away from me.
My brother.
[officer shouts in German]
Get out of the way, Father. They'll kill you.
A new day will come when your children will see the same white houses along the river.
[officer shouts orders in German]
God bless you.
[officer shouts orders in German]
Who killed him?
You or me?
You killed him, Polish priest.
And now I'm going to kill you.
May God forgive you.
According to my God, the world is ruled by honour.
The world must be ruled by love.
- Shoot him. - [officer shouts orders in German]
[woman screaming]
[soldier shouts in German]
Hey, you.
Papers.
- Where is this beautiful girl going? - To church.
- Which church? - St Andrew's.
- What are you going to do in church? - Pray.
We are coming to eat at your house tonight.
May I go now?
- Pretty eyes, what's your hurry? - Come with us.
[whistle]
Go, pray. Little Polish bitch.
Excuse me, Father. Have you by any chance seen Karol...?
Karol?
I was waiting for you.
Why are you wearing a cassock?
They're shooting and deporting seminarians.
The archbishop wants us to go round dressed as priests.
Why didn't you tell me?
- Don't you trust me? - Of course I trust you.
I trust you so much that...
..sometimes I think about something and I get this feeling you already know it.
Well, I didn't know about this.
You can't spend your life confessing a bunch of old women.
- You're a writer, a poet, an actor, an artist. - I've made a decision.
This is what I have to do.
What are you doing?
- You are leaving me alone. - No.
You won't be alone.
- I've lost you. - You haven't lost me, Hania.
I will be here for you more than ever.
I've got to make this decision. I'm talking about the future.
It has to be better than this evil we are going through. And I want to be a part of it.
I don't see any future. And I will never be anybody's slave, ever.
- I'd rather die. - No.
You want to live.
We're all going to live to fight for a world filled with love instead of hatred.
I'm sorry.
[reciting prayer in Latin]
[explosion]
They blew up the bridge. The Russians are arriving!
The Nazis are running away.
They are retreating. Poland is free! Poland is saved!
We're saved! Poland is free!
What are you doing here? Come on. We have to go.
Hans.
Come on. Come.
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
Sancta Maria
Ora pro nobis...
Come, almighty Creator.
I will be the ground others walk on to reach the place you will lead them to.
HANS FRANK EXECUTED AT NÜREMBERG
[birds cry]
[speaks Russian]
Welcome.
Julian Kordek, right?
They told me something about you that seems impossible for a Pole.
That I don't hate Russians? I spent my best years at Moscow University.
Nyet. That you are not a Catholic.
Tell me, is that a joke or just some trick to further your career?
An even bigger joke would be if our socialist revolution gave Catholics free rein.
Is that a good reason why this should become your desk?
This is a list of the Polish clergy. The Nazis wiped out a third of them.
But there are many left. Many.
I won't give them time to breathe, act or think.
The day will come when they won't have time to dream of their God.
[Karol] I'm a young face jutting from the Tatra rocks.
May a field of rye grow from my youth,
cradled in yearning and pain.
Let the happiness magnify you, great mystery.
Over here!
Go, go, go!
[they shout out to each other]
Przemek, will you be the goalkeeper, please?
All right.
I would like to play, too. Thank you.
Good save.
You won't save the next one, not even if you beg for help.
You want to bet?
Father Karol, the secret service!
- Over here? - I saw them in the church.
[speaks Polish]
What's going on? Monsignor Kurowski...
You can't arrest him. That's totally illegal inside a church.
- You want to join us? - That's all right, Karol. Let them do their duty.
- What's he being accused of? - What's your name?
Wojtyla.
Your monsignor preaches subversion.
He betrayed his country, which is also my country and your country.
Monsignor Kurowski has only spoken about sacred things in this church.
This is the last thing your priest will see
before he realises that the life he dedicated to sacred things
has been nothing but an illusion.
It's awful being placed in front of nothingness, isn't it?
What you call nothingness, I call everything.
Where you see darkness, I see light.
When you say destruction, I say salvation.
Goodbye, Wojtyla.
- What did you say your first name was? - Karol.
Karol.
And don't you forget my name. Julian Kordek.
[Karol] You are in the second month? [Hania] No, the third. Pawel is so happy.
[Hania] But we are already afraid we will spoil this little thing with too much love.
Too much love will make your child a joyful and gifted person.
- What's this about Lublin? - They shut down all the faculties of theology.
They set one up in Warsaw but it's controlled by the government.
Only Lublin is independent.
Archbishop Baziak said to me, "I've decided to send you to teach ethics."
- What did you answer? - I'd rather be a priest among people here.
- What did he say? - "You're going to Lublin."
- So you have to leave Kraków? - Actually, I get to do both.
How will you manage?
It's only 200 miles from Kraków to Lublin. That's eight hours. I can travel at night.
You're putting a lot of faith in our railroad system.
Where are you going?
My husband is a reporter here. Can you let us in?
Go.
Go!
What are they doing?
- You have no right to do this. - Then file a complaint. We have orders.
We ask for respect. Our lives are in these papers.
What right do they have?
Their excuse is that we refused to publish Stalin's death eulogy.
Don't touch this.
Pawel!
On your knees!
Are you going to kill him?
Over a typewriter?
He made a mistake. Don't make a bigger one.
Take everything away. Grab the paperwork, too.
Are you crazy? You're going to get yourself killed for a stupid typewriter.
It's our living and my only freedom.
Thank you.
You know how important the father is for a baby, don't you?
You'd better never let me catch you together again. I'll toss the bunch of you in jail.
What's next? You'll cut out our vocal cords?
If that's what it takes, why not?
What method did Christians use to convert the American lndians?
Non-Christian methods, which the Church has to ask forgiveness for.
So we meet again. It's Karol Wojtyla, right?
"Modern man can expect only one important thing from a priest. Christ."
"He can ask for the rest,
things that are useful from an economic, social and political standpoint,
from many others."
"The priest is a unique observer of the invisible in the world."
You're a good writer, Wojtyla.
I was. But from the looks of things here...
- Doesn't Christ ever smile at men? - Christ is love.
We could eventually ask ourselves why this love is nailed to the cross.
This office has been requisitioned.
As for your magazine...
WARSAW - THE ARCHBISHOP'S SEE
"To all the Polish clergy. Priests are being sentenced to death."
"They arrested the Bishop of Kielce, calling him a criminal."
"We cannot allow our country's government to trample the altar."
Security police. Open up. We're here to see Cardinal Wyszynski.
"I'm not asking you to get yourselves thrown into prison and killed."
"But there can be no compromise."
"You must resist."
- Well? - They won't open up.
- Should we break it down? - He'll open.
[gentle knock]
- What's going on? - Men from the Ministry of Security.
- Let them in. - But, Your Eminence, they're going to...
Let them in.
You're under arrest. The government has decided you cannot carry out your duties.
You're going to leave Warsaw.
Sign this.
I don't see any legal grounds for such a decision. So I cannot sign this.
All the government has left is violence.
The blind children of Radwanice...
You led them during the Resistance.
They were the only ones who could make their way through the forest at night.
I was one of the patriots they saved.
I have great respect for everything you did against the Nazis.
But now you are fighting against the power of the people,
hiding criminal priests convicted by the courts for their crimes.
Your position is pro-Vatican, pro-imperialist and anti-Polish.
I am the same person I have always been.
Defending our nation's Christian soul,
its spirit of freedom, peace and justice.
Collect your things and follow us.
I'm ready.
Aren't you going to take anything with you?
I came poor to this house and poor I shall leave it.
[dog barking]
I'm so sorry. Don't worry, the dog is healthy.
- Sister Maksencja, get some iodine, please. - No.
Let's go.
- Karol, thank God you haven't left yet. - What's the matter?
Pawel and I are leaving. We are getting out of here.
Where are you going? How will you cross the border?
In the false bottom of a truck. We're going to France and then New York.
Pawel has a cousin in Brooklyn.
- When? - Tonight.
Do you realise what you're letting yourself in for? And in your condition?
Karol, we are starving here. We are living on charity.
We don't sleep at night, listening to every sound, afraid that they'll arrest Pawel.
Or worse yet, that they just make him disappear.
Everyone seems like an informer.
There are so many of them. They've completely isolated us.
I don't want my child born in this horror.
I won't have it.
I will miss you.
I will miss you both.
I will miss watching you act.
You remember our underground theatre?
And Wadowice. The school.
Friends.
How could I forget?
Your child deserves this smile... for the rest of his life.
Two living smiles among the dead. We are the only ones left.
- Jusek fell on a mine in Monte Cassino. - I know.
Jerzy is dead, too.
I couldn't find out where he died and how and if he was buried.
I don't want to leave Poland.
I'm Polish and my child...
You will always be Polish, wherever you go.
Sit down.
You will always be Polish, and so will your child.
Only the sky above you will change, nothing else.
I was supposed to put this into a drawer,
but I forgot.
Please take it.
I don't want it.
Who knows why they pay me every month?
The curia's even punctual about it.
I'll be getting a professor's pay out of university, so don't worry about me.
Change it to dollars. It won't be a lot, but still...
- I don't want it. - I know, you said that.
Listen, you can pay me back later.
You're like a sister to me.
[hum of conversation]
- Comrades. - Comrade Kordek.
He runs the Fifth Department, Church and Religion. The most thankless job in Poland.
Comrade Stalin used to say that introducing Communism into Poland
is like training a cow to wear a saddle.
He also said, "lf only we could have that Wyszynski on our side."
Wyszynski is a great man but he'll never be on our side. He's fine where he is.
You should shut down the University of Lublin.
We don't want other Wyszynskis springing up.
It's not a good idea. We have to give the impression abroad
that religious and philosophical pluralism exists in Poland.
There are new teachers now. Young, well qualified. Dangerous.
- Such as? - Such as a certain Wojtyla. A young priest.
This man should not be allowed to teach young people to have no fear.
We need fear to accomplish our goal.
It will be right in the eyes of history.
And even in God's eyes, if He exists.
The University of Lublin will remain open.
Adam.
Comrade?
Karol Wojtyla. He holds the chair of Ethics at the University of Lublin.
And he's a priest here in Kraków taking care of young people.
I want to know everything about him.
Who he meets, what he says, what he thinks. Everything.
Even when he goes to the toilet.
Adam, did you apply to our department out of ideology or to further your career?
Why do you ask?
I find it strange that someone studying art history should hate religion so much.
The art I love celebrates man, not God.
God is superstition and obscurantism.
So you're pure at heart.
What about you?
I try to be.
[train whistle]
Ticket, please.
Please. Thank you.
I see some new faces. What's your name?
Janina Kuron. I'm from Lublin.
What's your name?
- Marcin Mickiewicz, from Kielce. - That's quite a name to live up to.
And you?
Maria Pomorska, from Poznan.
- And you? - Sorry. Actually, I signed up for art history.
No, you're welcome, too. What's your name?
- Adam. Adam Zielinski. - Join us if you like, Adam.
Art can be the master of morals and not the opposite.
Good. Why don't we start with a question?
Who wants to go first?
Yes?
- Why do... - No, sit down.
Why do some men act like wild beasts while others become heroes?
What makes some men betray their friends
and others sacrifice their lives for people they don't even know?
And who can answer that?
People are bad because they are scared and unhappy.
So they can be driven to violence and self-destruction.
There's an interesting subject.
Happiness and unhappiness deep down inside of each one of us.
Descartes. "Man is in the middle between God and nothingness."
"And he must choose."
We have to teach a philosophical concept based essentially on a human experience
rather than a cosmological one, more like what two and two are worth.
And the worker says, it isn't worth a lot.
That's the political drive. It sounds like a philosophical pastime.
- It's food for thought. - Let's have the food!
I'm sorry.
It's my fault. I'm always walking around with my head in the clouds.
Oh, it's you.
Art history?
Art history would like to buy something to drink. What do you say?
Why not?
I'm doing my doctorate's thesis on Piotr Michalowski.
- I have no idea who he is. - He's a very famous painter.
And I'm famously ignorant.
He painted several pictures of Don Quixote in a frenzy.
Mad, strong, desperate.
- Maria? - Yes?
- Am I boring you? - No, not at all.
There are many things we must discuss.
The young need positive answers, now, immediately.
Communists promise...
[Adam's voice] Communists promise young people a new, fair and better society.
Young people are pure. They want to believe that an ideal world is possible.
- We don't promise them heaven and earth. - Am I boring you?
- What are you looking at? - Sorry.
- Where do you live? - In Kraków with my aunt.
Fantastic. I live in Kraków too. Is that destiny or what?
Who knows? Destiny's very mysterious. But it always finds its way.
We have to meet Marxism on its own terms. The freeing of mankind.
Seven of us will go into working-class neighbourhoods without churches.
We'll visit any family that needs us.
Good.
You've made an admirable decision.
But it might be dangerous. Make sure you are not followed.
- And Adam too? - No, not him. He seems a little reluctant.
Adam lives in his world of art.
- You like Adam, don't you? - I think so.
- And he likes you? - I don't know.
How could he not like you? He's an aesthete. He probably likes you to death.
I'd like to organise a trip to the mountains with the students.
- That's a great idea. - We'll go to the Tatras.
A premise for your thesis. The moral value of honesty and courage.
I like it.
Adam.
[Karol] If you're drunk and beat your wife, you can't blame others.
It's the loss of self-respect that causes you to harm a person so dear to you.
[man] There's no help, no hope for me, Father.
- If that were true, you wouldn't be here. - I tried many times to make amends.
Despite disappointments, you must find love within you.
It's the only strength that can change you.
The evil of our times consists in a sort of degradation of the human being,
sometimes planned by ideologies or by political or economical systems.
[man] There's been an avalanche two kilometres up the track. They're stopping here.
We have to oppose them by reconstructing the sacred value of man.
I am late.
- The train from Kraków. - Oh, right. That's why Wojtyla isn't here yet.
They all went to get something to eat. Not me, though. I'm sweating the test.
I didn't go to classes. I work in Poznan but I'm trying to study.
What's this Wojtyla like? He's a priest too, right?
Yes.
- Is he mean? - Mean?
Worse.
He's a tyrant. A real tyrant.
Oh, my God.
- Are you well prepared? - More or less.
Could you explain Max Scheler's polemic against technological society to me?
He opposes the rationalists
who believe that we are able to dominate nature and man.
And?
For him, the only trust in the world comes from love.
[background music drowns dialogue]
- So you're from Poznan, too. - Right, yeah.
So, I found a classmate of ours who knows his stuff and he really helped me.
Who is he?
Where did he go?
Witold Brozek.
God help me.
Good luck.
Give me your grade book, Witold.
I'm sorry.
- I'm so sorry. I didn't know that... - Your grade book.
Witold is a student worker. I already tested him.
I gave you a good grade.
Keep on studying.
Thank you.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Your wings.
- You're a poet. - No. Not at all.
I only know three verses of a poem by heart. It's Turkish.
A Turkish poem? In Turkish?
"We have yet to sail the most beautiful of seas,
we have yet to live the most beautiful of days,
and I have yet to tell you the most beautiful things I want to say to you."
Don't look at me like that. I get embarrassed.
Come on, we're late.
We're late.
[Karol] There is nothing more mysterious and unknown than love.
We have a deep, desperate need of absolute love.
The difference between how we perceive it and how badly we live it is a terrible thing.
Well...
love's not something that can be taught and yet it's absolutely vital to learn about it.
One thing's for sure.
Love and sexuality are the most exciting link between mind and nature.
But love is also a responsibility.
When a man and a woman are united by real love,
one takes over the other's destiny and future as if it were their own.
And that can mean a lot of strain and suffering, but that's the only serious way to love.
And not by making a game out of it.
[choir singing in Latin]
[blessing in Latin]
Go in peace.
[blessing in Latin]
- [man] I'm having trouble with this. - What do you mean?
I can believe in the Father and the Son. But the Holy Ghost? I have a problem with that.
- Nowak! - Karol.
Where have you been all these years?
I work in the Cegielski factory in Poznan now.
How are things going?
- Badly. I mean, just fine. - Which is it?
Both. Badly because this regime is an insult to socialism.
The people are starving.
And fine, because I still feel strong and ready to fight.
And you know what? I am in love.
You're in love? That's great news.
- Who is she? - Her name is Magda.
She has blue eyes. Beautiful. She's a widow.
Are you getting married?
She doesn't want to. She has a small child. We see each other secretly.
Give her time.
And take it easy on the beer, OK?
Poland is a slave state.
The Russians now run the army and the government.
They're bleeding us dry.
All their projects are failing.
They're turning us into paupers, Karol.
We're going to take to the streets of Poznan and let them know how angry we are.
- What good will it do? - You're on their side?
I'm just afraid of the consequences. I don't want to cry for martyrs any more.
Don't worry. They're not going to start shooting at us. We're the proletariat.
Good work.
But he doesn't give anything away. He probably figures we are listening in.
I don't think so.
I've provoked him a thousand times. We take the train together almost every time,
and he's never uttered one word against the socialist government of this country.
He's not interested in politics.
Perhaps, and I say this with all due respect, comrade, you're wrong.
I am not wrong, Zielinski. I want this man.
And you're going to give me the means to do it. Is that clear?
Are you telling me that I have to make things up?
What if I am?
What if I did?
Then I'll make some things up.
- Who's in charge of the UB in Poznan? - Comrade Maczek.
Tell him I want to talk to him.
You can go now.
- Radio Free Europe... - [crackle of static]
Today, June 28th at 4 pm, the Second Army Corps has entered Poznan.
The strike began early this morning at 6 am
as workers left the Cegielski factory marching towards the centre of the city.
As time passed, workers from other factories joined the dissenters
together with passers-by and residents of the city.
[chanting in Polish]
Are you Nowak?
Yes, I am. And who might you be, comrade? I don't think we have been introduced.
I'm Piotr. My mom said I could come here only if I stayed close to you.
Ah, so you are Piotr, Magda's son.
I'm glad she fell in love with you. It's no fun seeing your own mother so sad and lonely.
Your mother's a strong and beautiful woman.
She's lucky to have a son like you. Take this.
[radio] Groups of demonstrators headed for the Unified Workers' Party Headquarters.
Others went along Mlynska Street towards the Central Prison
and beyond to the Office of Public Security.
At 10.15 am, a group of dissenters entered the regional courthouse
and the County Attorney's office.
[chanting]
[officer] The demonstration must disperse immediatelyl
- Leave, or we will use forcel - You have to go home.
- I'm staying with you. - I told you to go!
[screaming and gunfire]
Go away! Free Poland!
Piotr!
[Nowak] No!
Piotr. Piotr.
Piotr.
[radio] The number of workers killed, it seems, has reached a hundred,
plus several hundred wounded.
My father works there! I'm sure he was with the strikers.
- What's your father's name? - Ignacy.
[students shout angrily]
Hello? It's Wojtyla.
Call Monsignor Gorka at St Peter and St Paul's in Poznan.
See what you can find out about Ignacy Pomorski.
And check on Maciej Nowak and Witold Brozek, too.
Yes. Thank you.
We'll know shortly.
- I know where we can find some guns! - Quiet!
Quiet! Sit down.
You know, during the Nazi period,
I happened to find myself next to the wisest man I had ever met.
We were in a dark room, hanging on between life and death.
And this wise man wasn't a philosopher. He was a tailor.
He said to me, "We will win with love, not with guns."
I asked, "How can you say that with the Nazis in our country?"
And he said, "The Nazis will disappear because evil devours itself."
"But if love doesn't win out, the Nazis will just come back under a different name."
And now you want to face down tanks with rifles?
You want to give your lives? You shouldn't be giving your lives today.
You should be showing your love of life instead,
a love they don't know about.
You have to bear witness to the sacred dignity of every life.
Demonstrate peacefully. Show your pain, show your disappointment.
Shout out your refusal of violence.
Show your love.
- Show your respect for life. - [phone]
- Excuse me. - I have to know.
Wojtyla speaking. Yes?
He's all right.
He's all right!
What did they tell you?
A classmate of yours...
..Witold Brozek, was killed.
It's hard to forgive a crime like this.
And a friend of mine was wounded.
But I repeat, do not provoke them.
That's exactly what they expect you to do.
They won't be afraid of your guns,
but they will be afraid of your words.
You look well.
Three years in prison haven't weakened you.
There were 17 of us in my seminary class.
Twelve of them ended up in a concentration camp.
Do you really think I would feel cramped in this lovely place?
I could live here until the day I die.
I have faith, a strength you know nothing about.
How would you like to go abroad?
I don't know...what about ltaly or the Riviera?
My place is in my cathedral or in prison.
You can go back to your cathedral. The government has changed.
Comrade Gomulka is in power now
and thinks that you can take up your duties again.
You fired on the workers. You used tanks against people in Hungary.
Is that what Communism is?
I think it's intolerable that they ended up firing on workers, even if they were agitators.
Even more intolerable is the failure of so many government plans.
Are you saying this to protect your career?
You can think of me as an enemy but not as a worm.
Whether you like it or not, we're alike. We are believers.
The fact remains that people demonstrating peacefully scare you.
You release the head of the Church to have an alibi.
You are making a very grave mistake.
Governments might change and ease up,
but I am and always will be against you.
Don't think that letting me out will influence my soul in any way.
Nobody wants to buy your soul.
We want to achieve Communism, carrying it out with all the changes needed.
With or without the backing of the Church.
How do I manage to be so late all the time?
[train whistle]
From the Secretary of the Vatican State
to the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski.
His Holiness, upon the solicitation of the Archbishop, Monsignor Baziak,
names Karol Wojtyla Auxiliary Bishop of the city of Kraków.
He was singled out for his keen intellect, devotion and constant dedication,
his interior strength and persuasive oratory,
his cultivation of philosophy and the social sciences,
his following as a teacher and his influence among the young.
Hey!
Excuse me, are you going to Olsztynek? I have to catch a train to Warsaw.
- [replies in Polish] - Thank you.
[bangs cab roof]
- Sacks of flour? - It was the quickest way I could find.
Were you in Mazuria to carry out your spiritual exercises?
No... I was with a group of my students. We were kayaking.
Yes...
I've heard you are perhaps a little bit too athletic.
I was curious to meet you.
- Do you know why I sent for you? - No...Your Eminence.
Your archbishop, Monsignor Baziak,
has obtained your appointment as Bishop of Kraków from the Pope.
- I am far too young. - That's a weakness you will get rid of soon.
I ask you not to oppose the Holy Father's will.
I accept.
Well, then, let's go and get something to eat.
[choir sings Kyrie Eleison]
[ordination continues while choir sings]
[congregation applauds]
Karol! Don't let anyone get to you!
He wouldn't tell me his name. He seems very nervous.
- Maybe we ought to call the police. - No, we will not.
It's Nowak. No, you may go, Sister. Everything's fine. Just fine.
Nowak.
Did you really think I wouldn't recognise that voice of yours?
So my miner friend is a bishop.
- How is your arm? - It's all right.
They tried to kill old Nowak.
And when I got up, they tried to beat me to a pulp.
- What are you doing? - They are listening.
- [orchestral music] - I know they are. They are everywhere!
I couldn't find the microphones, but I'm sure they're here.
- I'm sure they're here. - No, times...
Times have changed. We don't live under terror any more.
Nothing has changed.
There are illusions of change, illusions of freedom.
That might be enough for the intellectuals, but not for me.
- Not for the peasants, not for the workers! - Come, come, sit down.
Disappointments,
persecutions, violence.
They are trying to hurt us.
They don't want us to smile any more.
But you can't let them rob you of your strength or dreams, or love.
Never. Remember that.
See?
I am talking to you about God without naming him.
I'd only just met the child... and they killed him right in front of my eyes.
- Who was it? - Piotr.
Magda's son.
He was only 12.
Now she doesn't love me any more because I wasn't able to save her child.
I became a priest to help people ease their pain.
But I suffer, I feel guilty for what I can't do.
Go to your Magda. Hold her tight.
Give her the kisses her son can't give her any more.
Excuse me. You told me you had an important appointment at four o'clock.
- What time is it? - Four o'clock.
Good Lord.
I'm late for an appointment at the Communist Party headquarters.
- But why take off your...? - So they see I am not there to provoke them.
But no Polish bishop has ever set foot in the Communist Party headquarters.
There's always a first time.
[church bell tolls]
How does this sound? We'll divide up the building.
Two floors for your seminary and two floors for us.
Half a seminary is better than no seminary at all, so I thank you.
Don't thank me. The Party says you are open to dialogue.
They don't see you as a fanatic, a reactionary.
That's exactly what I feared, Karol.
I don't like that optimistic smile of yours.
Still, all things considered, we both have the same goal in life.
The happiness of man.
Of course. Happiness.
You were an actor, weren't you? Your assurance, your serenity...
your confidence.
Are you acting?
There is not a lot to be happy about, and don't give me any faith talk.
I didn't mention faith. I was asking you to consider happiness.
Faith is superstitious madness.
"Madness that comes from God is so much more beautiful than wisdom of human origin."
That's Plato, as you well know.
The founder of reason and politics in the West.
We've said all there is to say.
You get half of your seminary back.
You have my word.
You may leave now.
- Is there something else? - Nowa Huta.
The 120,000 people living there are waiting for a church to be built.
Nowa Huta is a new city in the new Poland, created for the new man.
A man who doesn't need God. And you want to build a church there?
As Bishop, I have the right to carry this with me.
I'm not allowed to hand it around, but...
please don't have me arrested if I give it to you as a present.
That's the Gospel according to Matthew.
You might want to read the Sermon on the Mount, chapter five.
There's material for your intelligence... and for your sensitivity.
"Who amongst you will give a stone to the son who asks for bread?"
Good day.
You entered the devil's house
and you negotiated with him.
We do not negotiate with the Communist Party.
We do not set foot in their headquarters.
If you have anything to discuss with the political authorities,
you must do so with the consent of the man
who is until proven otherwise the Primate of Poland
and your immediate superior.
You're right, Eminence.
I should have asked you first. I...
I didn't mean any disrespect.
- I'm sorry. It won't happen again. - Good.
In any case, you managed to get us half a seminary. Is that right?
The man you dealt with would line us all up against the wall, given the occasion.
And you got us half a seminary.
Congratulations. How did you manage to do that?
Would you bless me, Father?
[Pawel] Karol, I know you are now in Rome.
I'm writing with the news that our family has been blessed with the arrival of little Jan.
Oo-hoo.
Mr Kowalski? If you have a second...
Sure.
But destiny was lying in wait ready to strike us
at the very moment we were most vulnerable.
Have a seat.
I knew there was something wrong.
Your wife was having breathing problems
and repeated attacks of coughing during and after delivery,
so I ran some tests, but I wasn't expecting this.
That shadow on the right lung...
unfortunately is a tumour that has developed metastases.
I'm sorry.
How long?
Three or four months.
We have faith, of course, but when God abandons you, it's difficult.
It's atrocious, Karol.
I write through tears because I'm alone. When she's present, I smile.
I've decided to tell her nothing
so she can have peace of mind for the time that's left.
I'll keep the anguish and pain within me.
The opening of the Council's first session
is crowned by the placement of the Holy Gospel.
As in 20 preceding Ecumenical Councils, it shall take the place of honour,
followed by the ensuing working sessions.
Man is a unique being.
He lives in a material world, but harbours deep spiritual urges.
He's a mystery to himself and to others.
Now the Church grows less and less efficient.
The Church can no longer show itself to the world
draped in the archaic Western culture.
We mustn't be standing over the world, lecturing it and asking for obedience.
Now the Church has to walk with the world.
Men are looking for the truth.
We must find solutions to the difficult problems of life with them.
We must face the despair of human existence in these times of ours.
With this in mind, the layman has to be in the centre of Church life.
I denounce every form of clerical mentality as an error.
Yes, in the new neighbourhood of Nowa Huta.
That's a working-class neighbourhood. You're a teacher. Why live there?
The government won't let them build a church.
You're right, that's a great reason.
You wretch.
In my free time between classes, I can go and visit families.
The farmers have been forced to become workers, to live in beehive apartments,
and their habits, their traditions have been totally ignored.
These families are falling apart.
There is drunkenness, women and children being battered...
There's so much bitterness.
You're too beautiful to have that sad look in your eyes.
Do you love me at least half as much as I love you?
- Adam? - Yes?
- Did you hear what I asked? - Of course I did.
And?
"The sweet love of a woman overcomes all."
I don't remember who wrote that, but Wojtyla says it too.
Here we are.
- Third floor, door on the right. - But where are you going?
I forgot. I have to see someone who can help me get a job at the university.
Put the kettle on, I'll be right back. Third floor, door on the right.
I've... I've listened to thousands of confessions
and I got a pretty depressing picture of human despair.
I have to tell you, Wojtyla's stamina is scary.
He helps people, encourages them, talks and talks...
but there's not one word you could use against him.
Please, let me do something more useful.
Negative. You're part of his group and you're going to keep on watching him.
[Kordek] Adam.
Did Wojtyla get to you? Or was it that Catholic girl's nice ass?
I know that the worker element in Nowa Huta is involved in subversive activities.
And I'm convinced that Wojtyla is with them.
So they better watch out if that project fails.
Hey, Darek!
You stand guard. We don't want them coming by for a control.
St Paul says, "l rejoice in infirmities, in insults,
in needs, in persecutions, in suffering,
for when I am weak, that is when I am strong."
They converted you?
Never. But it is a truth.
Like the man who told me these words claimed.
- St Paul? - Wojtyla.
- A bishop! - And a miner.
Long live our socialist homeland!
Kordek.
A well-timed heart attack eliminated the Archbishop of Kraków.
The list of candidates signed by Wyszynski?
I turned them all down. Nothing but a bunch of fanatical anti-Marxists.
- Do you want a name? - We already have it.
A name that Wyszynski didn't put on the list. Wojtyla.
You are making a mistake. Wojtyla must be stopped.
I have been informed that the man obsesses you.
Where is the problem?
That man has an inner strength that no other priest in Poland has, including Wyszynski.
- He can draw the young and work against... - A man who talks about prayer and love?
Wojtyla isn't involved in any anti-government activities
and he lacks organisational and leadership skills.
And then tradition dictates that Kraków's archbishop be a nobleman.
And we are backing a proletarian.
- Wojtyla is our real enemy. - Our enemy is Wyszynski.
He's the patriot, the union activist, the symbol for the masses.
We must support Wojtyla against Wyszynski.
You're making a tragic error.
The government authorises Wojtyla's name.
- That name wasn't on my list. - I know.
We agreed the government could approve but not impose.
This is what it has decided.
I don't agree with the government either, if that's any consolation.
The real issue here is...
just between you and me, let's say Wojtyla wasn't on your list
because either you didn't want him
or you wanted him, and all this was just a way of getting him nominated.
Where do I sign?
[Karol] Lord, You who challenges man
so that man can find the strength to challenge fate,
help me to be able to take action.
Help me to relive the Cross every day.
Help me to walk along a path that wasn't mine.
Help me to deal with politicians.
Help me to help all those who need it.
Are you asleep?
What are you dreaming about?
I feel sorry for you. I really do.
You're fooling yourself if you think you're happy.
You're fooling yourself if you think that a God who doesn't exist cares about the world.
You're fooling yourself
if you think that I can love you.
You want to marry me?
You want children?
I will never do that...
..and I will never be more lonely.
- How did you get in? - You should keep your door closed.
I'm not afraid. Besides, you came in, not some thief.
- What's wrong? - Nothing.
You look unhappy. Nobody should be unhappy on Christmas Eve.
Unhappiness doesn't follow the calendar.
I promise you I can teach you how to be happy.
Marry me,
and I'll make you feel how wonderful it is to live and be in harmony with yourself.
Inner peace isn't just for the simple-minded.
You can find it, too, if you just let yourself be loved.
Tonight, the history of Nowa Huta is going to change.
Wojtyla is going to say the mass, at the foot of the great cross made by the workers.
- What are you talking about? - Oh, yes. Shh.
What's wrong, Adam? Don't you have anything to do on Christmas Eve?
I figured out what they've been cooking up at Nowa Huta.
But it might be too late.
[rhythmic beat of batons]
This assembly has not been authorised. You will clear the area immediately.
Clear the areal
What are you doing?
Stop this! Stop it!
You can't keep us from having a cross! We're Polish.
So are you!
Stop it! We came here to pray!
[shrill whistle]
- Fall back! - We came here to pray.
You, the workers of Nowa Huta, have put up this cross where you want to build a church.
Your city was supposed to be a city without God, but your will has prevailed.
Let this be a lesson!
[applause]
- Who is in charge here? - Captain Lukowski.
- Take me to him. - Follow me.
[Karol] But they can't turn their backs to the truth, nor speak of it, nor hide it.
Kordek, Fifth Department. I am ordering you to disperse this mob.
- Comrade Kliszko. - Give me that. Give me that!
Your cross is the symbol of the sacrifice that redeemed man,
that gives a new sense to life,
that teaches us to love and to respect life.
This man is defying us. He has to be stopped.
If these people aren't afraid of us any more, it's all over! Do you understand?
We are the citizens of our country, the citizens of our city, but we are also the people of God.
We will continue to demand our rights.
Religious freedom is the highest expression of human dignity. To stifle it is a crime.
[applause]
This rock was given to me in Rome by Paul VI for you, the workers of Nowa Huta.
It comes from Saint Peter's Cathedral.
And on this rock we will build our church!
- Tell your men to take action. - I give the orders around here.
Well, then, give your orders. Right now! Silence that man.
I told you to silence Wojtyla!
Listen. I've had about enough of you. Shut up!
Come with us. Keep still.
You have to trust in the strength of hope.
You have to trust in love, which is stronger than death. You must never lose faith.
You must not lose heart, you must not get discouraged.
Never lose the freedom of mind with which Christ makes men free.
I am your bishop
and I will be with you every day until the end of my days. I bless you.
Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.
[crowd] Amen.
Adam.
[Pawel] You were right, Karol.
Hope, prayer and love, that hidden strength within us, can prevail over evil.
Do you remember the tumour? Here, look at this.
It disappeared.
Well, it happens sometimes.
Even for us doctors, our body is more a mystery than a certainty.
You're a lucky family.
Thank you.
[Pawel shouts with joy]
[Pawel] I'm frightened. Yes, frightened like he who has been blessed.
I can't call it a miracle. For me the word is both vague and misleading.
A mystery, said the doctor, be it for science or the faith.
I know you asked Padre Pio to intercede for us. Thank you for his prayers.
Thanks to the inscrutable destiny that gave Hania the strength to heal
and made me a privileged and happy man.
Pawel, what are you doing?
Pawel, what's wrong with you?
You're mine!
You're mine forever!
Will you tell me what's going on?
Nothing. I love you.
I've been spying on you.
Yes. I'm a spy.
I was trained for this.
I planted microphones.
I listened to your confessions.
I read your letters.
I was paid for doing this.
And I'm just one of many.
I always knew it was useless.
And even though I hated you,
your words slipped inside of me, like water through a crack.
You speak of love. Such a sick word.
Love for despicable human beings.
You are not despicable.
The pain inside you, and your anger, are your soul.
A soul that needs to be loved so much that it's smothered by it.
If you made mistakes, you already paid for them.
Thank you.
Thank you, Adam. Today is a great day.
This is the second time I've been a witness to the divine value of life.
Go in peace.
Everything that should be forgiven is forgiven.
You're a chosen one.
No.
Come here.
I forgive you. I forgive you.
I love you.
[Karol] Nobody should be forced to embrace faith against his will.
The cause of man's spiritual freedom, freedom of conscience, religious freedom,
is a great human cause.
For today's man and throughout history.
It's not enough for man to say, "I am free."
He has to learn to say, "I am responsible."
I'd like to talk about the Church's dialogue with atheism now.
We shouldn't start with the proofs of God's existence,
but with a reflection on man's deep and radical solitude.
Your Excellency!
You don't recognise me?
[gunshot]
Jerzy Kluger.
- You're alive! - So are you, Excellency.
What's that? Don't you remember my name?
Karol.
I thought you were dead. I looked everywhere for news about you.
I was told you were killed in Russia.
I should have died. Not once, but a thousand times.
And I've found you.
I was spared, but I was the only one.
I've forgotten what it means to cry.
We have to cry, Jerzy.
The pain has to be released, brought out in the open for everyone to see.
"Only the heart and a soul alone." It was our motto. Remember?
Jews and Christians have to come together like this.
I want you to look this over.
It is a letter to the German bishops in which we forgive Germany and we ask to be forgiven.
The government is going to be furious.
The time to make a strong gesture of peace with the Germans has come.
Do we really have to ask to be forgiven, too?
We always have to be forgiven.
This document is very important because it is the first step in our memory purification.
We should ask forgiveness for the faults committed by Christians throughout history.
That sounds like a destructive enterprise.
Millions of people have been murdered because of their race or their ideas.
We should ask forgiveness wherever Christians participated or kept silent.
[cheering]
[Karol] Adam, I am pleased your marriage gives you such joy.
But Maria's strength of heart comes from within and not from any teachings of mine.
A caress for your little son Stefan.
Adam, though you do not carry the faith, you do nurture a passion for truth
and that accounts for your gratification as a university professor.
I, unfortunately, see hard times ahead in this imperfect world.
How will the Vatican react if they ever find out about it?
I'm not defying Rome. On the contrary.
They know that the situation in Czechoslovakia is getting more desperate every day.
- Monsignor Wojtyla? - That's me.
- We crossed the border. - Welcome to Poland.
- Jiri Noga. Milan Hryc. - Here.
- Andrej Menzel. - Andrej Menzel.
My name is Jarko Sisyl.
Vaclav Kolar.
[Karol] This place will be your clandestine seminary.
A priest is one who conveys the mystery of the faith
with those invisible gifts destined to all humanity.
Here we'll work and I'll secretly ordain you, so you can return to your country as priests.
And there you'll have to face sacrifices and fight to defend freedom and peace.
I shall begin by giving my definition of a priest:
a man for others.
In '68, you shouted,
"No bread without freedom, no studying without freedom,"
because you wanted the right to bread, freedom and truth!
They arrested us, beat up intellectuals, closed down the theatres.
They made the workers think that we were traitors, and the workers didn't join us.
Now the workers are in open revolt - Gdansk, Szczecin, the northern cities.
The militia opened fire on them.
They are burying the dead in communal graves!
We know the truth, so we must be with the workers.
Remember that wherever the people cried out, "We want to be free,"
they have always found their freedom!
[screaming]
[chanting] Gestapo! Gestapo!
Yes, he's alive, but I'm scared.
Do you know what they do to prisoners? The so-called "paths of health".
I can't take it any more.
You're being tested. You're going to go through this with him.
You're going to overcome it with him.
Adam is courageous.
He's a chosen one. God will not abandon him.
Even as we speak, Adam is thinking about your smile.
The power of this thought will be his salvation.
Oh! [chuckles]
There you are!
- Did they give you your chocolate bar? - Yeah.
Yes. I was talking to your mummy about your daddy,
about the gift he's going to bring you when he comes back from his trip.
So this is what it's come to?
You having fun? Letting off steam?
Why don't you go and hit a mirror, Kordek?
Where is your God now? What is it that Wojtyla says to you, that God loves you?
History will always set things straight on the clock of time.
That's what he says.
Go on, Kordek, hit me.
Hit me as hard as you like, because He's stronger than you.
The state cannot cancel the rights that man has possessed since birth!
The state cannot replace a sense of justice with a billy club!
A state that sullies itself like that is destined to die.
Every attack on freedom by the state is a breach of the moral and social order.
To the families with men, women and young people who have died defending freedom,
to all those who suffer injustice in the name of freedom,
I say your suffering will not be in vain.
This Church is with you, on your side!
Woe betide the states that bring war inside and outside of their borders.
Woe betide the states that reduce peoples to starvation,
that kill and torture!
[congregation sings in Polish]
If Wojtyla becomes Primate, all the Poles will be behind him.
Make him die.
Are you out of your mind?
I might be crazy now, but I wasn't when I warned you about this.
Now it's too late. I'm sorry for you and for all of us. Our country.
Hm. That's very nice.
Mm-hm.
The Pope is dead.
- What did you say? - John Paul is dead.
Last night, after only 33 days.
I was very fond of him.
You know what he said when we elected him?
"May God forgive you for what you have just done!"
[choir sings hymn]
Siri.
Benelli.
Benelli... Benelli...
Siri.
Benelli.
Siri.
[reading of the vote continues]
Can't they ever agree? I have to get back to Kraków for the synod.
- Be patient. Benelli will be elected next time. - I hope so.
Cardinal Siri, 53.
Cardinal Benelli, 57.
- Eminence? - Koenig?
Why not a Pole?
No. Impossible. I am much too old for that.
I wasn't talking about you, Eminence. Someone else. We want to propose Wojtyla.
That would be a wonderful idea.
But he's too young, unknown. He'll never get elected.
He's one of the most brilliant minds we have. He's a strong man. He's calm, clear.
Neither left-wing nor right-wing. And he's also an optimist.
But we are afraid he will refuse.
I'll convince him.
- The Lord came and He calls you. - What do you mean?
If they elect you, please, don't refuse.
Remember what Christ said to Peter in Quo Vadis?
Just one word. "Accept."
[reading of the votes] Wojtyla. Wojtyla.
Wojtyla.
[assembly applauds]
[Karol] Love explained each thing to me. Love solved everything for me.
That is why I admire love, wherever it is found.
If love is as great as it is simple,
if the simplest longing can be found in nostalgia,
then I can understand why God wants to be greeted by simple people,
by those whose hearts are pure and find no words to express their love.
God came this far
and He stopped a short step away from nothingness,
very close to our eyes.
Perhaps life is a wave of astonishment,
a wave higher than death.
Don't be afraid, everl
[priest on TV] Habemus Papal
[priest continues in Latin]
..Cardinal Wojtyla.
[crowd cheers]
[Latin address continues]
[crowd cheers]
[translation from Italian] The most eminent cardinals
called a new Bishop of Rome.
They called him
from a faraway country.
[crowd cheers]
We have a Polish pope!
[translation of the Pope's address] Far away, but always very close,
for the communion of Christians in faith and tradition.
Magda! Magda!
He's my friend.
- [the Pope] I was scared... - Adam! Adam!
..to be nominated Pope...
..but I did it in the spirit of obedience
towards Our Lord,
and total trust in His mother,
the Holy Madonna.
Naz drowie, Wojtyla.
[bell tolls]
[translation] Also, I don't know if I can express myself properly in your language,
our Italian language.
If I make a mistake...
If I make a mistake, you will correct me.