Jan T. Gross’s 200 book “Neighbors” is about the real life story of 1941 ruthless pogroms that took place in the Jewish-populated Jedwabne, in Poland. The mass murders detailed in the book unearthed the shameful past of Poland. Few years before the release of the book, a documentary titled ‘Shetl’ (1996) also talked about antisemitism, in which a Polish historian stumbles upon Jewish gravestones used to pave town roads. Both the book and documentary stirred controversies when it came out, forcing the Polish to confront their country long history of antisemitism. Władysław Pasikowski’s “Aftermath” (2012) takes all these real accounts and weaves a story that deals with the crime's present-day reverberations. However, this devastating historical fiction doesn’t have a single Jewish character on-screen. Its film-maker frames the Holocaust atrocities into the genre of quasi-horror film, without ever taking a polemic view.
Franciszek Kalina (Ireneusz Czop) returns from Chicago to
his native place in Poland. The year is 2001 and he left the place in 1980,
after getting disgusted with Poland government’s implementation of martial law.
He was not happy in America, since he is bitter about running lowly asbestos work
for for greedy ‘Yids.’ He is also not glad about being back. Franek hasn’t
attended his parents' funerals, and the family farm has suffered in his
absence. Now he hasn’t returned with regret. His only job there to visit his
estranged younger brother, Josef (Maciej Stuhr), whose wife and children have
left him behind in Poland and moved to Chicago.
Franek finds that there’s been a great personality shift
with Josef. His brother is treated with widespread hostility across the town.
Some unknown perpetrators seem to have thrown a rock smashing his window, and
was also confronted and beaten up at a bar. Franek finds these were the reasons
for Josef wife’s resettlement. Josef is at first reluctant to explain the towns
people’s hostility but eventually confesses about his mission to collect the
town's Jewish gravestones. A recent flood reveals that the foundations of local
roads are looted from a Jewish cemetery. Though he was not a Jewish, Josef
couldn't stand the idea of the dead being disrespected in this way. He lugs
most of the gravestones to his Wheat-field and reconstructs a symbolic
graveyard. Threats escalate into more dangerous behavior as the villagers fear
that their role in Jewish massacre will get uncovered.
Director Wladyslaw Pasikowski is mostly known for making
thriller and war flicks. So, he turns “Aftermath” into a conventional thriller
with plot points like naive stranger, suspicious locals and mysterious past.
Certain mystery elements turn out to trappings that the film doesn’t need. He shows
complexity in retelling the past events, but the townsfolk are only portrayed
as mobsters screaming defamatory phrases. There is no nuanced character
development, and only focuses on the murderous actions, which rallies a vision
out of a cult horror film. Nonetheless, the film-makers have got one thing
right: they have avoided Josef to be presented as a noble tragic figure. When
Franek asks Josef to explain about his actions, he just says, "I kind of
figured it wasn't right." The script has clearly made him as misguided
guy, whose sudden obsession seems rooted more in narcissism than a affinity for
the Jews.
“Aftermath” is not a polite apology for mass killings. It is
a part of that country's ongoing process of wrestling with its demons. If the
film had overcome its clumsiest narrative device, it would have given us a more
weighted account of Holocaust. Bust, still it’s a powerful historical lesson.
Trailer
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