Hands Up! (Ręce do góry)

HANDS UP!

The basic part of this film was made in 1967. For fourteen years it's been withheld by the censorship.

Deciding about the present shape of the film, I chose to treat it as a diary, to search, in the part from 1967 and the footage from 1981,

answers to the questions: Who we were? And who we are now? JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI

By profession I'm a filmmaker.

It took years to get this film released.

Time has accomplished its manipulations.

Our turn has come.

We are again a little older.

Years have passed since the most important things...

...began to fade and become a blur.

Was it captain Sawicki?

Maybe.

Or maybe that censor...

...whose name I never learned.

Is it worth raking up after all this time?

Captain Sawicki, when I began this film in 1967...

...I got the first summons. Room 209. Turn left, second floor.

Since I doubt that we shall ever meet again,

this is my only chance of saying...

...the lesson I received changed my life,

since you robbed me of my self-confidence.

Do you still ask the same questions?

The names of people I talked to?

In Beirut I have failed to make any friends.

I was scraping a living as best as I could...

...and found myself acting in a german film "Forgery".

I've been pondering on the forgery of cinema.

Isn't it too easy an art of cinema...

...if mere flashiness can do so much for it?

But didn't that man who led the rats out of a town...

...use not argument...

...but music?

To grasp what I'm trying to put together...

...I must reconstruct what happened...

at the beginning of 1981.

Much was changing in my country.

But who in the Ministry of Culture?

Yes, I'll hold on.

"Hands up!"

...but...

Suddenly release a film after fourteen years?

I don't know. I'd have to see it.

I'd be glad to come, but I don't know when.

I'm otherwise engaged.

Long Live Solidarity!

Can I buy up my whole quarterly meat ration?

Can I buy up my whole quarterly meat ration?

Sure, at Speakers Corner you can speak your mind.

Can I buy up my whole quarterly meat ration?

Fourteen years ago I saw...

...that if I couldn't make a film...

I saw that...

if I couldn't make a film about what I understand...

...or say what I think,

...then I couldn't make a film about my country.

If I was called in for questioning,

asked about people I'd talked to...

I had to leave.

You can't make films in room 209.

Who was captain Sawicki?

My friends remained in Poland.

They said more in their paintings...

...than I could making films.

Friends!

When you've all got a litre of vodka inside you...

...I shall pour my own down the sink untouched.

Listen to me!

That's all the time I ever have...

...to decide, as tonight, whom to condemn to death.

A man 15 kilometres to my right...

...or a man 20 kilometres to my left?

Do you hear?

Listen to me!

...Kilometers to my right and to my left.

As that is the extent of my province.

And sometimes people want to die...

...at two different ends of the earth at once.

A man 15 kilometres to my right...

...or a man 20 kilometres to my left?

As that is the extent of my province,

and sometimes people want to die...

...at two different ends of the earth at once.

A friend of ours... entitled to account for his absence.

Doctors! A man needs help!

Don't you recognize me?

You once saved my life.

I thought that if I ever meet you, I...

So you do recognize me.

Well, tell me I'm the best.

Life's worth living!

Enemy aircraft approaching!

This is getting too much,

you - most of all.

For god's sake, behave! Stop provoking me!

- I'll slug him... - Ok. Slug him, but this way.

You're not going!

No! No! Don't shoot!

And people say that our generation is incapable of heroism,

of fighting.

I've fractured my tail bone.

What's the Latin for tail bone?

I forgot the moment I qualified.

- You forgot everything. - Up you get, we're going back.

His reflexes are still working.

But a bit delayed.

There's 0,3 percent of alcohol In the patient's organism.

- Candles... - What candles?

- Just candles. - Aren't there any?

No.

- Too late for any trains. - There's a freight.

Let's go... Deeds, not words!

- You've put on weight. - I should hope so.

Hold it! Stand still!

I am.

- Break it up! - We were meaning to.

Hold it right there!

- We're catching this train! - It's a freight.

Just right for these swines. Besides, there's a vet with us.

- Where? - Me.

Can I put it down now?

For expenses.

Take it off, or the wind will.

Deeds, gentlemen, deeds!

To those who have had enough...

sleep tight.

Let us after all this time look at each other...

to see who lowers his eyes.

We have paid off all our installments...

...except the final one of conscience.

To us who were the last not to ask "how much"?

Since even if we do ask now...

...we didn't start out that way.

To our ideals!

Maybe we should preserve this eagle.

For fearing responsibility,

forgive him, o Lord.

For not answering the phone...

...when it rang at night in emergencies...

forgive him, o Lord.

For abusing his position,

forgive him, o Lord.

For being plain stupid,

forgive him, o Lord.

For being like us...

You dope...

it was for him.

For him?

What a laugh if he wakes up in confessing mood.

Was it really for him?

Come on, what are these?

Speed.

It helps you unwind, lose your inhibitions.

It really was for him?

You don't think it's a waste?

I can do it for you. Shall I give him?

O.K. All of them?

Here we go. Another one?

Take them often?

- Let's have a look. - How often is often?

More often that a year ago. It makes him mad.

I'll stop after the divorce.

Does it work like a truth drug?

The truth makes him especially mad.

Why do you dislike him so?

- Because he's your husband? - What is that you do like?

You'll see in a moment.

What are you staring at?

Fear I'll burst into tears?

Or strip off and pounce on one of you?

You can relax...

So can you.

I took one, he took three. So stare at him.

Stare at him!

It takes time to work.

The effects can be pretty embarrassing.

Since we're stuck here...

...I think we ought to take a pill each.

To even the chances.

Make whit the lies...

...as you'll soon be singing a different tune.

We'll begin with him.

After qualifying...

tormented by obsessive ambition, he decided to specialize

in writing prescriptions.

He put on 20 kilos.

He has 3 children,

- four false teeth. - Two and a half jobs.

- Cold comfort at home. - And drives a Wartburg.

Now you.

Specialization:

Travel abroad. Hobby: Being home as little as possible.

Car: Alfa Romeo.

You don't practice?

Non-practising. Meaning lapsed.

- Married? - More or less.

Children? Children?

Now me.

I was born married.

I don't believe in medicine. I'm a surgeon. I got a medal.