Róża

The war might be over, yet violence and crime continue unabated. These new Polish territories are to be “restored”, as the official version went, as a result of which the remaining German and Masurian population, as well as the local Poles, are abandoned to the vagaries of mob law and the caprice of the new regime in a new era governed by the law of the jungle. Just the same resistance fighter Tadeusz finds himself under the same roof as Rose, the widow of a German soldier, whose execution by the Red Army he witnessed first-hand. Though frowned-upon, a protective bond slowly arises between the two, as they together attempt to deal with past and survive the present.

Wojtek Smarzowski's brutally honest drama, raising the little-known chapter of the persecution of the Masurians, took seven Polish Film Awards in 2012, including those for Best Film and Best Actress. JG