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IN THE LEAD TIME OF THE APOCALYPSE: THE PICTURE OF MARTIAL LAW IN NO END BY KRZYSZTOF KIEŚLOWSKI The film by Krzysztof Kieślowski, made in 1984, entitled No End, is one of the first Polish films about the experience of martial law. Although it was made with the awareness of censorship, it shows this period in an extremely bold and true way. Kieślowski does not show iconic images characteristic of the years 1981-1983 – tanks on the streets of Polish cities, soldiers with long weapons warming themselves up by makeshift stoves, scenes of arrests and deaths of oppositionists. By telling about a young woman whose husband, before his death of a heart attack, was a defender of political prisoners, the director, however, perfectly recreates the atmosphere of martial law: a sense of hopelessness and entrapment, attempts to maintain dignity and decency at a time when conformist attitudes were rewarded, and finally – everyday fear and humiliation related to functioning in a totalitarian state. In Kieślowski’s story martial law infects every area of life, it does not allow anyone to forget about it, even for a moment. It is characteristic that there are no winners here – both sides of the political, ethical and ideological dispute feel defeated. “It was a film about the state of our minds and our hopes rather than the fact that it was cold and someone was shooting at us. [...] – Kieślowski said many years later. – The film was against martial law. It showed the defeat of those who led to it and those whom it hurt”. |
