“Walesa: Man of Hope” screened as a part of the Chicago International Film Festival. This early review is merely an impression of the version screened.
Despite being a moving, inspirational portrait of an influential Polish activist and political figure, you will not find any orchestral score in “Walesa: Man of Hope.” No strings, no swells, no cymbal crashes and timpani designed to jerk a tear; not in this biopic. The songs that punctuate Andrezj Wajda’s film are Polish pop and punk songs, music plucked straight from the garage.
This is the music of the working man, and although hitting the beats of a standard biopic, “Walesa” keeps its head down and does a workman-like job just as its protagonist would. It’s a modest film of a simple man, but also a great one.
Lech Walesa (Robert Wieckiewicz) joined the solidarity movement in the 1970s. The Soviet Union had control over Poland, and the nation was stuck in poverty with the Communist mentality to view working class, human labor as little more than a resource. Over just a few years, Walesa became the relatable figurehead of the movement. With a big sniffer over a sly, gruff smirk, he reached the working class in ways the young, rebellious liberals could not, eventually leading city wide strikes, negotiating for the poor and winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
The film joins Walesa in the early 1970s as his first child of six is about to be born. When a riot starts outside his apartment, he takes off his wedding ring and his watch and tells his wife Danuta (Agnieszka Grochowska) to sell them if he doesn’t return. He’s arrested, interrogated and forced to sign a document that’s bound to come back to bite him. Continue reading “CIFF Review: Walesa: Man of Hope”