Fall 2023—Saturday, November 18 at 7 p.m.

A still image from the film of two men sitting in a field. One man is playing an instrument.

Strawman

Figurant

2023, 113 minutes
Poland
Directed by: Robert Gliński
Written by: Andrzej Gołda
Principal cast: Marianna Zydek, Mateusz Więcławek, Zuzanna Lit, Zbigniew Stryj, Adrian Brząkała

Tickets and Venue

Description

The action is set in the Communist Poland. The film is based on true events and tells unknown story of surveillance operation whose target was Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II. Told from the perspective of a young officer in charge of the operation; he invigilated Wojtyła for over 20 years from his consecration as a bishop of Krakow in 1958 until his election as Pope in 1978. The film skillfully uses generic tropes of an espionage thriller to tell a dark but compelling story of a man tasked with a morally indefensible objective, who succumbs to loneliness and despair. Wojtyła, the goal of the surveillance operation, is only visible in the film in rare glimpses, and yet his life becomes the obsession of the main character.