Uległość

When a girl asks Marcin whether he wants a girlfriend, he’s thrown into doubt. He’s already got his hands full with his alcoholic father, whom he’s been living with since he turned 18. Maybe he’s doing it to repair the relationship that was broken when he was taken out of his alcoholic parents' home and placed in an orphanage at the age of 12. Or perhaps he’s doing it to make sure that the booze doesn’t send his father into an early grave like it did his mother. From a respectful distance, director and cameraman Pawel Chorzepa observes a complex relationship defined by ruined youth and failed parenthood. A small family tragedy unfolds in eloquent and telling scenes. Marcin doesn’t say much, but we can tell from his expression that he’s caught between repulsion and affection for a father who is warm and engaging when sober, but an irrational wreck when drunk. Marcin does his best to earn enough to get by with all sorts of odd jobs, but it can hardly compensate the cost of his father’s destructive disease. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)