In 1961, Stanislaw Rozewicz created the novella film "Birth Certificate" in cooperation with his brother, Taduesz Rozewicz as screenwriter. Such brother tandems are rare in the history of film but aside from family ties, Stanislaw (born in 1924) and Taduesz (born in 1921) were mutually bound by their love for the cinema. They were born and grew up in Radomsk, a small town which had "its madmen and its saints" and most importanly, the "Kinema" cinema, as Stanislaw recalls: for him cinema is "heaven, the whole world, enchantment". Tadeusz says he considers cinema both a charming market stall and a mysterious temple. "All this savage land has always attracted and fascinated me," he says. "I am devoured by cinema and I devour cinema; I'm a cinema eater." But Taduesz Rozewicz, an eminent writer, admits this unique form of cooperation was a problem to him: "It is the presence of the other person not only in the process of writing, but at its very core, which is inserperable for me from absolute solitude." Some scenes the brothers wrote together; others were created by the writer himself, following discussions with the director. But from the perspective of time, it is "Birth Certificate", rather than "Echo" or "The Wicked Gate", that Taduesz describes as his most intimate film. This is understandable. The tradgey from September 1939 in Poland was for the Rozewicz brothers their personal "birth certificate". When working on the film, the director said "This time it is all about shaking off, getting rid of the psychological burden which the war was for all of us. ... Cooperation with my brother was in this case easier, as we share many war memories. We wanted to show to adult viewers a picture of war as seen by a child. ... In reality, it is the adults who created the real world of massacres. Children beheld the horrors coming back to life, exhumed from underneath the ground, overwhelming the earth."
The principle of composition of "Birth Certificate" is not obvious. When watching a novella film, we tend to think in terms of traditional theatre. We expect that a miniature story will finish with a sharp point; the three film novellas in Rozewicz's work lack this feature. We do not know what will be happen to the boy making his alone through the forest towards the end of "On the Road". We do not know whether in "Letter from the Camp", the help offered by the small heroes to a Soviet prisoner will rescue him from the unknown fate of his compatriots. The fate of the Jewish girl from "Drop of Blood" is also unclear. Will she keep her new impersonation as "Marysia Malinowska"? Or will the Nazis make her into a representative of the "Nordic race"? Those questions were asked by the director for a reason. He preceived war as chaos and perdition, and not as linear history that could be reflected in a plot. Although "Birth Certificate" is saturated with moral content, it does not aim to be a morality play. But with the immense pressure of reality, no varient of fate should be excluded. This approached can be compared wth Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blind Chance" 25 years later, which pictured dramatic choices of a different era.
The film novella "On the Road" has a very sparing plot, but it drew special attention of the reviewers. The ominating overtone of the war films created by the Polish Film School at that time should be kept in mind. Mainly owing to Wajda, those films dealt with romantic heritage. They were permeated with pathos, bitterness, and irony. Rozewicz is an extraordinary artist. When narrating a story about a boy lost in a war zone, carrying some documents from the regiment office as if they were a treasure, the narrator in "On the Road" discovers rough prose where one should find poetry. And suddenly, the irrational touches this rather tame world. The boy, who until that moment resembled a Polish version of the Good Soldier Schweik, sets off, like Don Quixote, for his first and last battle. A critic described it as "an absurd gesture and someone else could surely use it to criticise the Polish style of dying. ... But the Rozewicz brothers do no accuse: they only compose an elegy for the picturesque peasant-soldier, probably the most important veteran of the Polish war of 1939-1945." "Birth Certificate" is not a lofty statement about national imponderabilia. The film reveals a plebeian perspective which Aleksander Jackieqicz once contrasted with those "lyrical lamentations" inherent in the Kordian tradition. However, a historical overview of Rozewicz's work shows that the distinctive style does not signify a fundamental difference in illustrating the Polish September. Just as the memorable scene from Wajda's "Lotna" was in fact an expression of desperation and distress, the same emotions permeate the final scene of "Birth Certificate". These are not ideological concepts, though once described as such and fervently debated, but rather psychological creations. In this specific case, observes Witold Zalewski, it is not about manifesting knightly pride, but about a gesture of a simple man who does not agree to be enslaved.
The novella "Drop of Blood" is, with Aleksander Ford's "Border Street", one of the first narrations of the fate of the Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation. The story about a girl literally looking for her place on earth has a dramatic dimension. Especially in the age of today's journalistic disputes, often manipulative, lacking in empathy and imbued with bad will, Rozewicz's story from the past shocks with its authenticity. The small herione of the story is the only one who survives a German raid on her family home. Physical survial does not, however, mean a return to normality. Her frightened departure from the rubbish dump that was her hideout lead her to a ruined apartment. Her walk around it is painful because still fresh signs of life are mixed with evidence of annihilation. Help is needed, but Mirka does not know anyone in the outside world. Her subsequent attempts express the state of the fugitive's spirits - from hope and faith, moving to doubt, a sense of oppression, and thickening fear, and finally to despair.
At the same time, the Jewish girl's search for refuge resembles the state of Polish society. The appearance of Mirka results in confusion, and later, trouble. This was already signalled by Rozewicz in an exceptional scene from "Letter from the Camp" in which the boy's neighbour, seeing a fugitive Russian soldier, retreats immediately, admitting that "Now, people worry only about themselves." Such embarassing excuses mask fear. During the occupation, no one feels safe. Neither social status not the aegis of a charity organisation protects against repression. We see the potential guardians of Mirka passing her back and forth among themselves. These are friendly hands but they cannot offer strong support. The story takes place on that thin line between solidarity and heroism. Solidarity arises spontaneously, but only some are capable of heroism. Help for the girl does not always result from compassion; sometimes it is based on past relations and personal ties (a neighbour of the doctor takes in the fugitive for a few days because of past friendship). Rozewicz portrays all of this in a subtle way; even the smallest gesture has significance. Take, for example, the conversation with a stranger on the train: short, as if jotted down on the margin, but so full of tension. And earlier, a peculiar examination of Polishness: the "Holy Father" prayer forced on Mirka by the village boys to check that she is not a Jew. Would not rising to the challenge mean a death sentance?
Viewed after many years, "Birth Certificate" discloses yet another quality that is not present in the works of the Polish School, but is prominent in later B-class war films. This is the picture of everyday life during the war and occupation outlined in the three novellas. It harmonises with the logic of speaking about "life after life". Small heroes of Rozewicz suddenly enter the reality of war, with no experience or scale with which to compare it. For them, the present is a natural extension of and at the same time a complete negation of the past. Consider the sleey small-town marketplace, through which armoured columns will shortly pass. Or meet the German motorcyclists, who look like aliens from outer space - a picture taken from an autopsy because this is how Stanislaw and Taduesz perceived the first Germans they ever met. Note the blurred silhouettes of people against a white wall who are being shot - at first they are shocking, but soon they will probably become a part of the grim landscape. In the city centre stands a prisoner camp on a sodden bog ("People perish likes flies; the bodies are transported during the night"); in the street the childern are running after a coal wagon to collect some precious pieces of fuel. There's a bustle around some food (a boy reproaches his younger brother's actions by singing: "The warrant officer's son is begging in front of the church? I'm going to tell mother!"); and the kitchen, which one evening becomes the proscenium of a real drama. And there are the symbols: a bar of chocolate forced upon a boy by a Wehrmacht soldier ("On the Road"); a pair of shoes belonging to Zbyszek's father which the boy spontaneously gives to a Russian fugitive; a priceless slice of bread, ground under the heel of a policeman in the guter ("Letters from the Camp"). As the director put it: "In every film, I communicate my own vision of the world and of the people. Only then the style follows, the defined way of experiencing things." In Birth Certificate, he adds, his approach was driven by the subject: "I attempted to create not only the texture of the document but also to add some poetic element. I know it is risky but as for the merger of documentation and poety, often hidden very deep, if only it manages to make its way onto the screen, it results in what can referred to as 'art'."
After 1945, there were numerous films created in Europe that dealt with war and children, including "Somewhere in Europe" ("Valahol Europaban", 1947 by Geza Radvanyi), "Shoeshine" ("Sciescia", 1946 by Vittorio de Sica), and "Childhood of Ivan" ("Iwanowo dietstwo" by Andriej Tarkowski). Yet there were fewer than one would expect. Pursuing a subject so imbued with sentimentalism requires stylistic disipline and a special ability to manage child actors. The author of "Birth Certificate" mastered both - and it was not by chance. Stanislaw Rozewicz was always the beneficent spirit of the film milieu; he could unite people around a common goal. He emanated peace and sensitivity, which flowed to his co-workers and pupils. A film, being a group work, necessitates some form of empathy - tuning in with others.
In a biographical documentary about Stanislaw Rozewicz entitled "Walking, Meeting" (1999 by Antoni Krauze), there is a beautiful scene when the director, after a few decades, meets Beata Barszczewska, who plays Mireczka in the novella "Drops of Blood". The woman falls into the arms of the elderly man. They are both moved. He wonders how many years have passed. She answers: "A few years. Not too many." And Rozewicz, with his characteristic smile says: "It is true. We spent this entire time together."
啊 台灣的老師那麼兇哦…衝突的醞釀和爆發很真實。想要的、能接受的、想給的、能給的之間的衝突。如果能哪怕給一點離開美國家的時候的片段來展現母女三人在美國時候的關係和交流方式，那回到台灣之後生活方式和各人行為的轉變應該會更明確一些吧。
是没有很好啦 但寂寞自以为无人理解独自面对所有垂死挣扎的青春期 就还蛮 让人无奈的。
即使当初不回来也不会比现在开心太多，得不到的永远最好，回不去的才是故乡。片中听到周杰伦，片尾听到陈绮贞，在2022看2003，是情景再现，也是正在经历。
想说的东西太多，文化差异、家庭矛盾、母女关系、青春期叛逆、经济下行、病毒流感等等……不能把自己的人生拍一遍，这样观众很累，导演也很累。
白马见于安德里亚阿诺德《鱼缸》、李霄峰《少女哪吒》……
在跑毒的高铁上看的，情绪没顶起来啊，差在哪儿了呢
同样语境之下的家庭反思，有细节有生活有矛盾，一泉活水。
前期把所有问题都暴露在观众面前 自私控制欲贫穷身份认同 最后仅用亲情化解所有有点偷懒 二女儿更讨喜
①许多家庭悲剧产生的真正根源，说到底并非哪一个家庭成员的问题，而是家庭本身就是问题，婚姻也好，家庭也罢，并不是所有人类生存与相处唯一的最佳解决方案。说到本片，我不喜欢大女儿的性格，虽说处于叛逆期，言行仍相当自我中心，一心想回美国，而完全不考虑父母，尤其是罹患癌症的妈妈的立场。但即便如此，我也不会说这样的小孩太过特例，因此得出这部电影不够有说服力这样的结论，因为，每一个不安分的家庭，都有它各自不安分的原因；②故事的编排、演员的表演、导演的掌控都很稳，观影过程我一直揪心抹泪，细想下来，其实没有一个所谓反面角色，这个家庭也距离贫穷很远，还可以感觉到夫妻年轻时也是男帅女靓，一双女儿也是俊得俊，可爱的可爱，但一路走来，现实的生活，为什么就那么煎熬呢？
以為是文化衝突，原來是母女衝突，片中的學校太讓人壓抑，東亞的教育環境真的摧殘人。小演員不錯。
不适 矛盾 挣扎 爱与恨
从前我们以为，父母若是不能满足我们的要求，那他们就是不爱我们。于是便一边肆意说着伤人的话、做着伤人的事，一边埋怨“明明是他们不够爱我”。在对其他一切挫折都饱含忍耐力和宽容背后，却唯独觉得“爱”是非黑即白的完美主义。
三星半。时代背景与死亡的恐惧交叠，中美文化（意识形态）的拉锯。台湾电影的一大特点，就是所有议题都可以往家庭片里嵌套，属于是万能药。
无论是故事的时间、谈论的议题亦或是传递的价值观都过时得像10年前的电影，都什么年代了还在做美国梦🙄女儿摊上个这么作精作怪的妈真可怜，还不分青红皂白被当爹的扇了一巴掌😤最后一场戏也像经费不足一样草草收尾。
如果不是SARS 我可能还看不出来这是什么年代的戏 不论台湾还是美国 二十年来都挺遥远的 也就周杰伦的那首《安静》 二十年来一直不变地流行着
如果不是SARS 我可能还看不出来这是什么年代的戏 不论台湾还是美国 二十年来都挺遥远的 也就周杰伦的那首《安静》 二十年来一直不变地流行着
Too cruel for this little girl and me.
这种片子看多了，就像看多了陈凯歌张艺谋起家的类型片一样：压抑晦涩，充满阴霾。为什么华人的家庭片大都这种格调？让人选择的话，有多少人不会首先选择那种第一次见面就能嘿咻的生活方式？人生本已不易，内心多有伤势，这种泛泛的故事，真的只能唤起心中的无奈。而且，影片的这种结尾，在华人影片里也是烂大街了，或许这种形式是泊来的，但“微微一笑泯恩仇，轻轻一转待明天”的意境，并不是这么简单就能表现出来的。不需要结果…别指望明天…过好当下…这才更能让人心静。
整体都有点莫名其妙，叛逆期的女儿和身患重病的母亲之间的冲突来的毫无理由，整体一般。。。
3.5 非典那段有几幕戏蛮有力量。对于林嘉欣，我的印象还停留在《男人四十》，岁月催人老啊……
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