Film’s triumph follows tragedy
Poles Apart, a documentary made in 2004, recently won an award at a major film festival in Warsaw. The film’s writer–director, Mary-Jo Tohill, reflects on why the themes of loss, survival, hope, adversity and triumph are universal and timeless.
More than 15 years ago when I was working in television in Christchurch, Liz Whiteford, then general manager of the former regional station CTV, phoned about a project that might interest me.
It was a documentary commissioned by the Polish Association to mark the 60th anniversary of the arrival of 733 Polish orphans to New Zealand.
I’d never heard of these children, but I was to live and breathe them for months to come.
The first title for the documentary that popped into my head – not even thinking of the 1994 Pink Floyd song of the same name – was Poles Apart.
It stuck because it seemed to sum up how these Polish children were wrenched from their old country and ways, and had to re-establish in a new country poles apart in distance and culture from their own.
Pole, producer and journalist Alina Suchanski, now living in Te Anau, drove the project. Her stepfather, the late Antoni (Tony) Leparowski, of Christchurch, was one of those children – New Zealand’s first refugees – who arrived on our shores 75 years ago.
Tony, who was a beautiful pianist, and owned a barber shop in Christchurch for decades, died in 2012, the same year Alina self-published Alone, a book about his remarkable life.
He was a casualty of World War II, losing his parents and homeland as a result of the invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union from the east, followed by Germany from the west, in 1939.
He and hundreds of orphans spent four horrendous years being pulled from pillar to post, deported from East Poland and then sent to work camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan and the Far East, and later an orphanage in Uzbekistan.
Things improved when they were sent to Persia (Iran), their last stop before being shipped to New Zealand and the Paihiatua camp in 1944, which seemed a paradise after their ordeal.
Tiny budget, big rewards
It was a rewarding but deceptively simple project to work on.
A Polish-American film student was meant to direct it; I was just supposed to give guidance at the production end.
But the logistics and demands of this type of project were a full-time job, and not one that could be worked around study, so I was asked to take it on.
There were moments in the small hours when I was doing rewrites and reedits that I wished I hadn’t, but we got there on a minuscule budget, because of Alina’s meticulous research and passion, and a great editor, Sarah Rowan.
Alina’s son Marek did the graphics. I liked the vintage WWII newsreel style, because it fitted in well with the archive footage and general feel of the piece.
We used live recordings by a Polish pianist at a concert in Christchurch; that’s why there is so much Chopin in the doco. We were pleased with how it all came together.
It screened in New Zealand and in Poland, with a Polish voiceover.
No special effects needed
Life went on for the next 15 years, but it was marred by two tragedies: Alina’s husband Patrick Bernard (Pat) Kelly, who narrated the English version, drowned at Piha in 2007, and the CTV building collapsed in the 2011 earthquake with a huge loss of life, including 16 staff who had worked on or for the documentary.
CTV’s precious archive, including an Antarctic project I was in the middle of editing, was destroyed.
Fortunately, Alina had full digital masters of Poles Apart.
Out of the blue this month, Alina contacted me and said the film had won the television documentaries and programmes category at a major film festival in Poland, the 14th Film Festival in Warsaw.
The festival is run by the Fundacja Polska-Europa-Polonia (Poland-EuropePolish diaspora foundation) under the patronage of the Senate Marshal and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. It showcased 90 professional and amateur productions from 20 countries, each revealing the lives of Polish expatriates in different parts of the world. The theme of the festival this year was the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII.
As the producer and main fundraiser, Alina was surprised Poles Apart won a top prize, because of the calibre of the other entries. However, it had stood the test of time, she said.
‘‘It doesn’t need fancy effects to make the story powerful. It is still as relevant as it was when it was made.’’
In a time when there wasn’t much good news in the world, the doco was ‘‘a feel-good tale of survival, determination and human kindness. It’s a story of the victory of good over evil.’’
War still resonates
I watched it again myself last week for the first time in perhaps 14 years, with completely fresh and critical eyes. I was reminded that there are still conflicts and refugees, that war resonates with every generation, and how the themes of loss, survival, hope, adversity and triumph are universal and timeless.
I was happy to see shots of Pat chopping wood in one of our recreations to illustrate the choppy relationship between Russia and Germany.
My feet were used to depict Tony’s collapse from malaria when the orphans reached Persia. It reminded me how much the orphans had suffered, and how much Pat and Tony were missed.
We used rail tracks as the main image in the doco to represent the thousands of miles those children travelled.
The train journeys continued for some in New Zealand. Kazimierz Zajac (Kazik) talked about being one of the orphans shipped around New Zealand with tags around their necks, and being reliant on the train conductor to ‘‘turf’’ them off at the right station, where they were met by their foster parents.
I was sad to hear that Julie Mokrzycka, age unknown when she was deported, died this year and that her dream of returning to Poland hadn’t come true. Most of the other participants are still alive, including Stefa and Jozef
Zawada, Tadek Ziolo, Zbyszek Poplawski, Henia Blackler, John RoyWojciechowski and Czesia PanekWierzbinska.
Confronting lies and half-truths
The documentary was a historical eyeopener for me, and especially for Alina as a Pole. ‘‘Everyone knows about the German attack on Poland at the start of WWII, but how many people know that a few days later Russia attacked Poland as well, and the killings and deportations of hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens that followed?’’ she says.
‘‘Even in Poland not many people knew this, myself included. The communists silenced the voices that might have told this story.
‘‘So imagine my disbelief and outrage when I found out after coming to New Zealand that what we were fed at school were lies and half-truths.
‘‘I had no idea about it. So I took it upon myself to tell the world . . . I also wanted to acknowledge the New Zealand Government for making such a generous gesture and not only inviting those children here during the war but allowing them to stay when the war ended. I wanted to recognise the many New Zealanders who played their part.’’
And I’d like to thank the many friends I made at CTV, many whom died so tragically, for their commitment in making this project happen. It’s a testimony to them and an ode to regional television at its best.