A little known episode from the life of Stalinist security police office Julia Brystiger. Her nickname Bloody Luna was a reference to her incredibly brutal methods of interrogation. In the early 1960s, she appears in a centre for the blind on the outskirts of Warsaw, a place often visited by Cardinal Wyszyński, whose imprisonment in 1953-1956 Brystiger supervised personally. During a difficult and heated discussion with the cardinal, Brystiger denounces the communist ideology and begs for forgiveness for her crimes and for guidance in her search for God.
Acting
Maria Mamona's volcanic, trembling confession scene.
Direction
Bugajski's unblinking eye for institutional cruelty.
Writing
Dialogue that weaponizes bureaucratic language.
Director
Ryszard Bugajski
Maria Mamona
Julia Brystygierowa
Małgorzata Zajączkowska
siostra Benedykta
Janusz Gajos
ksiądz Cieciorka
Marek Kalita
prymas Stefan Wyszyński
Bartosz Porczyk
więzień
Kazimierz Kaczor
żałobnik
Sławomir Orzechowski
dozorca Marian
Marcin Troński
bufetowy
Krzysztof Ogłoza
plutonowy MO
Barbara Bursztynowicz
Kościukiewiczowa, kobieta w jadalni
Jacek Bursztynowicz
ordynator
Zbigniew Konopka
prokurator
Andrzej Szenajch
portier
Mariusz Wojciechowski
Antoni Marylski
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Brystiger was real: she personally supervised torture of over 50 Catholic priests and invented 'Brystiger's method' of spinal compression.
Bugajski was blacklisted by Polish communist censors for decades; this was his first feature allowed after 1989, making the film itself an act of historical reckoning.
PL
