Summer of 1939. Zosia is a young Polish girl who is deeply in love with Ukrainian Petro. Their great love will be put to the test when her father decides to marry her to a wealthy widower Skiba. Right after wedding she is left alone because her husband is drafted to the Polish army for the war with Germany. Meanwhile, tensions grow due to Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians living side by side.
Direction
Smarzowski refuses to look away from historical atrocity.
Cinematography
Sun-drenched beauty that curdles into nightmare.
Acting
Łabacz's face holds entire civilizations collapsing.
Director
Wojtek Smarzowski
Michalina Łabacz
Zosia Głowacka
Arkadiusz Jakubik
Maciej Skiba
Adrian Zaremba
Antek Wilk
Lech Dyblik
Hawryluk
Dorota Liliental
School Teacher
Jacek Braciak
Głowacki
Izabela Kuna
Głowacka
Jarosław Gruda
Tomasz Sapryk
Izaak Menzl
Sebastian Stegmann
Niemiec
Wojciech Zieliński
Vasyl Vasylyk
Petro Hapyna
Oleksandr Chesherov
Mykoła Mełenczuk
Roman Skorovskyi
Stepan Szuma
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Volhynia massacres remain politically radioactive in Polish-Ukrainian relations; this film sparked diplomatic tensions upon release.
Smarzowski used actual descendants of massacre survivors as extras, some filming on their own ancestral land.
PL
