Friday, March 28, 2014

potriotism

There are some thoughts lately on my mind that bother me quite a lot. It's about a concept of patriotism. I used to be, or consider myself, very patriotic person. I was always singing whole national anthem, I tried to learn a lot about history of Poland, I like polish and I think we are an interesting nation, and I really loved living here. I always defend Poland when somebody is attacking us without good reasons. I was always truly sad when thinking about wars, warsaw uprising, the death of millions of inocent people. And I do think about that stuff today and I didn't change my mind, but why do I like my country and why it is important to me?

Let's start with this short and so interesting thought:


It has a point, doesn't it? I was absolutely amazed when I saw it, it expresses my point of view so well and in so short way. I am trying to say that I don't love my country because I was born in here. I don't love my language because I should, because it is good to respect your language and your country. 

I wouldn't mind living in another place, with another language, another people and mentality. As long as I feel good in a place, I will live there. And I feel good with polish mentality and language, and landscapes, and trains, and roads and sucky government. I have grown here, and I FEEL GREAT HERE. I had an oportunity to live in Basque Country and I just didn't feel very well there. People were so kind, the culture seems to be so rich and different from ours, it's not even about the horrible climate, rain and stuff - it's just I belong to Poland, and other cultures are worth discovering, but I feel the best right here and there is nothing I can do about it, at least now. 
It doesn't mean I don't see disadvantages - there are so many problems to solve, I just am aware of that every country has its issues. So I don't love Poland because I should, I love it because of many reasons, not because I was born here and it is required to be a patriot. 

If I will enjoy being at Mexico or United States, I will love it as well :)

If Poland was named Germany and we would speak german, I would love it as long as I would feel well, feel grateful for some things that happen here and for some people I meet here. We build our countries, we work for its future, and then it is easier to be a patriot, isn't it?
















Saturday, March 22, 2014

About truth and history

This week I went to the cinema to see that new movie "Kamienie na szaniec", which I promised to describe in my next note. Well, I saw it, I liked it, and now I'm going to join the discussion about that controversial film of Robert Gliński.

When I left the cinema, I was confused. The last 30 minutes I was crying, almost all the time, and it was hard for me to be objective, because I saw a person that I know being tortured (I know, I really know that it was not real!), and I can't watch scenes like that at all, even if it's a murderer being tortured. Now, after few days, I can say that I really enjoyed the movie. According to me, it was a good way to show to the public a piece of history in a little bit different way. I think that music was the best element from the movie - the scenes with fight between boys and of sabotage, they were purely modern and energetic. It was a better choice than it would be a music from those times.

I think that music was the only modern part of the film, I mean, I don't understand why many ex-soldiers and scouts from Szare Szeregi, who have participated in a Second World War, claim that this movie is a lie, that scouts didn't behave or dress this way. Actually I think that their clothes are pretty out of date, nobody would dress like that today and I know them from other war movies. And I truly believe that the moral aspect during war was kind of strict, but I also believe that scouts were human and they might have had girlfriends and KISS THEM.

"Kamienie na szaniec" were made to show some history and the fact, that these young boys were just like us, while they were having fun or saving their country, and fighting for survive. It was a feature film - a director Robert Gliński has to repeat this all the time - based on historical events and a book of Aleksander Kamiński. That's why it was not supposed to be the same thing as a book, it was more modern version, but true. I think that the actors who performed the leading roles, did great jobs, and it was their first big debut. Congrats for them and the director!

PS The only thing that I would change, were some conversations with huigh language. I mean, I know, they were all the time close to death, but were they seriously talking like that?

 

Friday, March 14, 2014

film adaptions

Last week came out a new movie "Kamienie na szaniec" in polish cinemas. I am especially interested in that movie because my friend (or, to be frank, brother of my friend) has a leading role and I'm really interested how this is gonna be, if I'm gonna like it or not.



I will write about it when I'll see it, but now I have another thing in my mind. I'm very critical if it comes to movies adapted from books. They just NEVER come out good. They might be well done, but it seems to be almost imposible to make a movie that will actually reflect the book, not change antyhing etc. That's the annoying part, why does the director always change the sequence of events? Or the caracteristics of the characters?

I remember when I was watching Harry Potter movies, when I was a girl I loved a book, and at first, I watched few parts of a movie adaptations. Let's face it, they are bad. They change some important issues from the book. I am aware that it's not only fault of the director - it's like you're reading a book, and you imagine things on your own, and then you go to the cinema to see something different from the images from your head. But one thing is change the facts, and other is create presented world in a different way.

About "Kamienie na szaniec", I am not very worried that it might be different from the book, because I read it like many years ago and I don't remember a lot. But it's another polish historic movie, lately we've seen some movies of that kind, and they are not always well done. I think that "Katyń" was a good one, but there is too much right now, I think it became sort of fashion in polish cinematography to create movies like that. It seems to be the easier way to teach about history. But in every movie we see the same faces, is that a ggood choice of directors?

Well I;m not gonna judge before I see it, and I'm hoping to have some fun on that movie - I know it sounds bad, they are people dying etc, but I mean that I'm gonna see at big screen a person that I know from life, and this is gonna be awesome! :)























Tuesday, March 4, 2014

My impossible future

When we are children, we have our dreams about who we would like to be as a grown up people: actress, singer, writer, runner,policeman...But then we grow up and everything becomes hard.

When I was a little girl, I had few plans for my future. I wanted to be a hairdresser (omg, why?), a professional runner, and a singer. Now none of those professions seems particularly interesting to me, so I'm not disappointed that I won't be a sportswoman or that I won't sing in front of crowds. Because I'm grown up now and mature, at least I hope so, and I decided to be a translator. This is something I love to do, and as much I want to do for a living this way, as much I know how hard it is for all kind of artists, translators, writers etc. Those are not very rich, if they 're not work-a-holics or super talented in what they do.

I realize how great would be doing something enjoyable for us. I would love to travel and write books, like Ryszard Kapuściński for example. But my books would be reeeaally poor and boring, so I 'm just gonna leave this for talented writers. Does it mean that I have to stop dreaming about "who I want to be when I grow up", and just let the life bring some boring profession  so I can do for living somehow?

I'm quite pessimistic in this matter - I guess it's important to do something we love anyway, but we should remember that this might be not enough. I think that we need to know the balance between things and be realistic.