Holy Week

This intimate psychological drama grows out of the story of a single man who faces an internal conflict: he should help the Jews in hiding, yet he is still haunted by a painful grudge against one of them. This personal tension, which during the war was confined to an individual choice, began after its end to be understood much more broadly—as a metaphor for the moral dilemmas of Polish society confronted with the tragedy of the Holocaust. In the face of extreme danger, all facets of humanity were revealed: from courage and selfless solidarity to cowardice, selfishness, and cruelty. Based on the prose of Jerzy Andrzejewski, the film explores these shades of gray, avoiding easy judgments and focusing on how deeply people’s attitudes were shaped by the pressure of time and fear for their own lives.