The Mine
directed by Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Poland 2017, 65'
This beautiful portrait of three women working on the rinser at the Rydułtowy-Anna mine is dedicated by director Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz to Irena Kamieńska. The tribute is no superficial gesture, as the film's similarities to Kamieńska's Robotnice (Workers) and Dzień za Dniem (Day After Day) go beyond the subject matter, taking inspiration from these classics of the Polish school of documentary filmmaking. Thanks to its observational style, attempts to get at the truth about a person by carefully recording the details of their life, sincerity and unmistakable empathy, not to mention the great cinematography of Marcin Ściegliński and faultless editing by Agnieszka Kowalczyk, Zmarz-Koczanowicz was able to make one of the most outstanding Polish documentaries of recent years. The role of an expressive detail in “Gruba” is assumed by a struggle for a separate portable toilet for women. Fortunately, the protagonists in Zmarz-Koczanowicz's film are strong individuals, and the emotional landscape of The Mine is much richer than the suffocating atmosphere of Dzień za Dniem: there is also room for humor, expressive Silesian curses and a powerful sense of dignity.
- 2017 Krakow FF
- 2017 Lubuskie Lato Filmowe (Złote Grono)
