All Our Fears
The gay artist and activist Daniel Rycharski provides the inspiration for Lukasz Ronduda and Lukasz Gutt ‘s well-meaning Polish drama.
LGBT rights in Poland are arguably the worst in all of the EU countries. That is what one is told on Wikipedia and it is in that context that one recognises the special interest of seeing a recent film from that country which is concerned with this very issue. However challenging to some Polish viewers, All Our Fears made in 2021 went on to win no less than six awards on its home turf, five in 2021 and a further one in 2022. It can't actually be claimed that All Our Fears is breaking new ground for back in 2013 the Polish filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska made the award-winning In the Name Of which had a gay priest as a central character and took on controversial issues which it explored from a sympathetic viewpoint. Nevertheless, to offer a dramatised film based on the life of a contemporary artist, Daniel Rycharski, famed for being openly gay and an activist for LGBT rights is a brave act since it potently expresses the suffering that so readily affects those who are lesbian or gay in Poland today.
Much of the detail in the film is taken directly from the life of the real Daniel Rycharski including the fact that he is a Catholic of deep faith. But since this is a dramatisation, it may be the case that some characters and events have been freely treated or even invented despite the fact that the central character played by David Ogrodnik is indeed named Daniel Rycharski. Refer to the artist on Google and it certainly makes it clear that his art draws on the hope that it should be possible to create a realm in which being non-heterosexual and being anchored in the Catholic faith can coexist. That possibility is certainly central to this film.
On All Our Fears the experienced director Lukasz Ronduda, who has worked in both drama and documentary, is joined by the photographer Lukasz Gutt taking on the additional duty of feature co-director for the first time. From Ronduda’s viewpoint the film can be seen as one of a series of works, dramatised or not, which are centred on studying a range of notable Polish artists of one kind or another. Nevertheless, for many viewers this particular film will be seen as less about Rycharski as an artist than about the current LGBT experience in Poland. Indeed, in terms of plot All Our Fears is centred on the suicide of a 17-year-old lesbian known to Daniel. This is Jagoda (Agata Labno) whom he had befriended and the film follows his determination to set up a ritual walk, a way of the cross, for her. The local priest (Piotr Trojan) opposes this for a suicide but Daniel persists believing that the hostility of the community is responsible for her death. Ironically, Jagoda herself had not been a believer declaring that hell and heaven may exist here but that there is nothing after death.
The film’s portrayal of this rural community (Daniel is also a farmer) is not entirely without sympathetic characters (Daniel’s supportive grandmother (Maria Maj) being a case in point), but his father (Andrzej Chyra) is hostile to his son and his own lover, Olek (Oskar Rybaczek), is afraid to act openly and fearful of his own sexuality becoming known. Overall, the sense is of a community that is traditionalist in the worst ways. Jagoda's mother and sister had been aware of Daniel's influence on her but had seen that only as making him blameworthy for leading her astray. If Daniel’s determination to live his life (he always besports LGBT colours) is just about tolerated, he is still widely seen as a sinner. The film in contrast is not afraid to view him as a Christ-like figure of suffering.
While this well-meaning film has potential, it too often comes across as a sketch for something not fully developed. The general picture is clear, but the characters often feel under-developed and changes of heart late on come too much out of the blue. In the case of Jagoda's mother (Jowita Budnik) this also leads to an admission of something that should have been revealed earlier since up that point for her daughter to turn to suicide has seemed too extreme. If late on there is passing acknowledgment of the conflict seen by some as making Christianity and homosexuality unreconcilable, that is a subject that demands a much more central place in this story. Given that many LGBT people take that view, the fact that Daniel remains firm in his faith while adopting an opposite attitude cries out for the issue to be gone into from his viewpoint yet this is virtually sidestepped. The mayor (Ewa Konstancja Bulhak) may see Daniel's use of the cross as a desecration when it is used to promote LGBT ideology but the counter argument needs to be stated in more detail. A final shot of crosses in the landscape which relate to suicides such as Jagoda does have a certain force, but it also leaves one with the impression that All Our Fears could have been a far more compelling work even if it does open up discussion among its viewers.
Original title: Wszystkie nasze strachy.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Dawid Ogrodnik, Maria Maj, Andrzej Chyra, Jacek Poniedziałek, Oskar Rybaczek, Agata Łabno, Jowita Budnik, Ewa Konstancja Bułhak, Wojciech Ziętek, Zbigniew Litwinczuk, Piotr Trojan.
Dir Lukasz Ronduda and Lukasz Gutt, Pro Kuba Kosma and Katarzyna Sarnowska, Screenplay Lukasz Ronduda, Michał Oleszczyk and Katarzyna Sarnowska, Ph Lukasz Gutt, Pro Des Joanna Kaczyńska, Ed Przemysław Chruscielewski and Kamil Grzybowski, Music Igor Klaczyński, Marcin Lenarczyk and Bartłomiej Lupiński, Costumes Kalina Lach.
Serce/Telewizja Kino Polska/Canal+Polska/mimikra-Peccadillo Pictures.
90 mins. Poland. 2021. UK Rel: 20 May 2024. No Cert.
