To Kill a Priest (1988) - film review

Poland, 1981.  A Catholic priest, Father Alek, rallies behind the cause of the Solidarity movement, making himself popular with his congregation but hated by both the Church leaders and the Soviet-controlled Polish government.  He is most hated by the police official, Stefan, who is constantly frustrated at being unable to act against such flagrant dissidence.  Father Alek’s enemies decide to make good use of Stefan’s anger, and give him free reign to eliminate the troublesome priest...

To Kill a Priest was Agnieszka Holland’s first film to win her international recognition as a director, although it is far from being her best work.  The film is based loosely on the real-life assassination of the popular Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko, to whom the film is dedicated, and is set in Poland in the early 1980s, a time of great political upheaval for that country.

Despite some solid performances from a respectable international cast, the film really just fails to engage the audience, and it certainly does not do its subject justice.  Part of the problem is that the film’s central message is far too ambiguous, indeed muddled.   Stefan’s moral dilemma and partial religious/political conversion is alluded to but never fully developed, and consequently he ends up losing our sympathy and attention.  Likewise, Father Aleks lacks substance and charisma, making it increasingly difficult to believe that he could be a threat to the Soviet regime or a popular figure with the unwashed masses.

The film does however have some noteworthy production values, and the cinematography and music are generally impressive (the highlight probably being Joan Baez’s haunting rendition of ‘The Crimes of Cain’).  However, all this is little more than a superficial veneer to what is essentially an empty film which lacks depth and conviction, and whose meaning is frustratingly ambiguous.

© James Travers 2002

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