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."
210424@ sfm：这剧本太八面玲珑的吧，庭审戏也很爽。半年庭审前因后果俩小时完成不乏味。看的时候忍不住想这两年隔岸看到的新闻、那部不能说的提名纪录片和现在正在进行的审判。就算能理解历史总会翻页，但身处其中的人呢？Abbie Hoffman角色设定太高光了。
看完偷自行车的人听听反派影评，回想一下，索金大大还可以加油哈哈哈
原本以为很严肃（确实也很严肃）但tsn的味道很浓，两个最不正经、插科打诨并不合作的yippes是本片最严肃也是最理想主义的人。索金仍然擅长于拍摄庭审场面、对话和群戏，开头半小时很难不想到tsn。the power of speech在庭审场面几乎成了一个irony，无论是真实地黑豹党领袖噤声或是通过驳回动议来体现司法权力的滥用和亵渎。把真实的纪录片和电影画面、所有证人的视角和庭审剪切一起，女孩被击倒在星条旗上扯碎衣服时，暴力和非暴力的界限已经不再明确了。
愿世界和平愿世界美好。
所有政权都怕名单
剧本稳中带燃，演员各有亮点，借古喻今但当下民意会不会比当初更加割裂？80
这个真的太棒了！！一人分饰多角 无缝衔接 音乐也很动人
剧本稳中带燃，演员各有亮点，借古喻今但当下民意会不会比当初更加割裂？80
集中的群像实际只有三个半在线，唇枪舌剑没有实质性内容。
很精彩的法庭戏，剪辑十分紧凑，审判时刻的“简短”陈词，燃点和泪点并存，激动人心。科恩这个激进嬉皮士角色很是抢眼。
听过艾伦·索金的编剧工坊，脑子快于嘴，经常卡壳。写剧本就不一样了，可以一泻千里，畅快淋漓，哒哒哒机关枪扫射状，风格自成一派，后世学徒很难上手，门槛极高。
通篇就讲了一件事：怎么样叫作“不拿人当人”，以及人之所以成为人，是如何做到的。中国的现代史上也有这么牛逼闪闪的人物，只是他们成不了电影。最后宣读阵亡名单时，小朋友站在法庭椅子上向父辈致敬的一刻，犹如《死亡诗社》一般热血，也是民权的希望之所在，最好的启蒙教育，最好的父子传承，就是这样完成的。
有意思的是这些不成气候的“革命者”一个两个还能上审判席，而马丁路德金和马克西姆这种却连审判席也上不了。说明美国政府更清楚那些是疥癣之痒那些是心腹大患。
尽管那么多人都那么愚蠢，尽管体制常常丑陋而迟钝，尽管暴力似乎总是能够得逞，也绝不要放弃努力和希望，不要轻易地向他们屈膝投降。因为说到底，做一个被世界辜负的人，总比做一个辜负世界的人来得强。
绵密台词搭建起了整个故事脉络以及人物性格，庭审戏的针锋相对，场外的虚实暴乱混剪，索金用层层递进的张力诠释了历史上的这次冲突事件，并且在雷德梅恩念出越战牺牲名单的那一刻达到高潮。
看之前没想到这个剧传达的信息这么optimistic 卡司无缝衔接身份转换 in an ideal world 陌生人的善意 世界和平
没条件去看现场的穷人表示这部音乐剧光是bootleg就已经超好看了，默默希望百老汇/伦敦西区音乐剧放出官摄变成常态，为了不影响档期卖票完全可以延后几年再放出来，那些超珍贵的OBC摄影只存起来真的是太可惜了~
B.不能乱啊
编排完美，歌舞和这种题材太搭了，让人激情昂扬。只有在困境中才能看出一个地方的素质，是否能考虑到尽可能多的情况，关心少数群体，保护动物，人们互相帮助载歌载舞，这才是人性的闪光之处。女机长的独唱更是激励人心。
好一出以古讽今的大戏。索金注册商标式的剧本，一切都被设计得那么严丝合缝，好像就欠了一口令人销魂的仙气。
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