WE ARE ALL CHRISTS
Poland, 2006, 107 minutes, Colour.
Marek Kondrat, Andrzej Chyra, Michal Koteski.
Directed by Marek Koteski.
Polish sensibility has deep Catholic roots. This is evident in a grim and graphic film about alcoholism, We are All Christs (2006) directed by Marek Koterski. The central character is a professor of art who takes students on guided tours of churches. We see him standing against the station of the cross where Jesus falls the first time. He explains the sufferings of Jesus with some forcefulness. Interspersed amongst the scenes of family conflict because of alcohol, are brief sequences of Jesus carrying his cross, but against the background of a modern high-rise apartment building.
Not only that, various characters are depicted as being on the cross and their sides pierced, like that of Jesus, by a spear wielded by another member of the family who is being cruel. So, we are all Christs. Towards the end, when father and son attempt reconciliation, we see the two of them, dressed in white robes, carrying a heavy cross like that of Jesus, each helping to bear the other’s burdens. The Jesus-figure and the Christ-figures bring Jesus into the harsh contemporary world of addictions where people suffer like Jesus. They fall. But Jesus has been there before them.
This is quite a harrowing film. At times the desperate behaviour seems too much, but it is clearly the self-destructive behaviour of longtime addicts – and the destructive effects on succeeding generations.
1.Polish seriousness? Religious perspective? Moral values? The focus on the title and Christ? Images of Christ?
2.A film of interiors, a film of dialogue? The exteriors and the beach? The rubbish tip?
3.Realism and surrealism, images, dreams, the images of Christ and his Passion? The musical score?
4.The title and its perspective, the focus on Jesus, carrying the cross, falling on the way to Calvary – and the background of the high-rise? The Stations of the Cross in the church? The others as Christs – and their being pierced on the cross? The cumulative effect? Jesus and his suffering, giving meaning to other people’s suffering? Others as Christ figures? How helpful was this in understanding their suffering? Like Christ? The quotations from 1 Corinthians 13 about love? From Romans 6 about doing what one didn’t want to do and not doing what one wanted to do? As an adequate text for the addicts?
5.The structure of the film: the son and the father talking, this is a framework for the flashbacks, for Adam as a boy, his own father and his drinking, leaning against the tree and collapsing, his mother and her grief? The later mother and her arguments against her son? Adam’s life, his marriage, his relationship with his son? The years passing? The presence of the guardian angels? The resolution – the tip, the beach, carrying the cross, the discussions, going into treatment?
6.Adam as the central character, as a baby, drinking alcohol, as a boy, drinking from the cupboard, his mother and her grief and concern? His growing up, his friends, telling them false stories and lies about his life? The explanation of his marriage, unwilling, thinking of the divorce? Going to the hotel, being sick, meeting his wife? The marriage ceremony, his work, in the church, the group of students, his explanation of the Stations of the Cross, the sufferings of Jesus and his four? Going to the boss, vomiting? The presence of the angels and his interpretation of what they said? The seven years of drink? Christmas, the tree, the decoration, the talking angel on the tree, his drinking, coming home, wife and son leaving, his axing the tree?
7.The older Adam, twenty years of difference? His son and his taking the drugs, caring for his father yet wanting him to die? His son going to the house, the old man sleeping, getting up, drinking, the promises?
8.Adam on the tip, his being attacked, rescued? With his son on the beach, carrying their cross?
9.The presentation of addiction, issues of addiction in the genes, the influence of parental example, shame or not? The excesses of drink and addiction? Hiding the drink, the father breaking his son’s piggy bank to get the money? Sickness, the gutter life, the rubbish tip?
10.The frank discussions, the son and his admission of his addictions, the effect on his life? The drugs, the description of the three days? Desperate?
11.The moral perspective of the film, the Scripture quotations, the imagery of Jesus and his suffering? Audiences judging the characters or not?
12.The final information, the effect on father and son? The possibility of change and redemption?
