Description
Komunia 2016
1h 12m | Documentary, Drama | October 2016 (Poland)
Storyline:When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives separately; but most of all she tries to reunite the family. She lives in the hope of bringing her mother back home. Her 13 year old brother Nikodem’s Holy Communion is a pretext for the family to meet up. Ola is entirely responsible for preparing the perfect family celebration. “Communion” reveals the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and the need for change when change seems impossible. This crash course in growing up teaches us that no failure is final. Especially when love is in question.User review:Ola is 14. Though she has a slight figure and a freckled face, something about her is more suggestive of a woman in her forties. Perhaps it’s dejection, a lack of hope; perhaps it’s actually the toughness with which she bears up under her burden. The illusion shifts from time to time when she’s spending time with her brother Nikodem. Though only a couple of years younger, he behaves in many ways like a much younger child, perhaps because of his autism. Ola teaches him and cares for him but there are still moments when she’s just his sister and the two tease each other and laugh, and there’s a sense of life flourishing in a harsh climate.Copy picture
Along with her brother, Ola cares for her ailing father and for her mother, who no longer lives in the family home. It’s clear that she’d like to have everybody back together but all of her effort is barely sufficient to keep them from drifting further apart. Meanwhile, Nikodem is preparing for his first communion, which he approaches with a sense of humour and self-assuredness not always appreciated in Catholicism. In one scene, a priest tries to talk to him about sins whilst he insists that he’s different and that in his case gluttony is actually a virtue.Zamecka is intrigued by the intensity of the relationships – whether positive or negative – within this struggling family. There’s love there, for sure, but as we watch we’re invited to wonder if that’s really a positive force in Ola’s life. Its presence seems to compound the absence of hope. There are also a myriad tensions as the instinct to survive prompts family members to lash out at one another, needing support but also fighting for the space in which to be themselves.A bleak film but a necessary one, Communion is leavened with humour and quietly celebrates Ola’s impressive endurance. It’s a testament to all those who struggle on invisibly, a rallying cry for those who, after centuries of social change, continue to endure a drudgery that others have left far behind.
Director: Anna Zamecka
Writer: Anna Zamecka(story)
Star: Ola Kaczanowski
Country of origin: Poland
Language: Polish
Also known as: Communion
Filming locations: Poland
IMDB Profile tt5966340
Komunia (2016)
7.1
Director: Anna Zamecka
Writers: Anna Zamecka
Stars: Nikodem Kaczanowski, Ola Kaczanowski, Marek Kaczorowski
Summary: 'Communion' reveals the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and the need for change when change seems impossible. This crash course in growing up teaches us that no failure is final. Especially when love is in question.
Also known as: Komunia (2016) on DVD
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