Wolyn (2016)

Mother, prepare the room,
offer welcome to the groom.
The fiancs of yesterday
turn to newlyweds today.
If the door keeps shut,
we'll burn down the hut!
What brings you to this place?
What brings you to this place?
We don't want to see your face.
Don't you have any food?
This doesn't look too good.
Welcome the beau of the bride,
And let us all inside.
Oh Hela, you pretty lass...
Oh Hela, you pretty lass...
Open up and let us pass.
Put your maiden wreath
on a tray,
Put your maiden wreath
on a tray,
The groom is ready to pay.
Bow your head down, oh dear Hela.
Bow your head down, oh dear Hela.
Bow your head down, oh dear maiden.
Ask pardon of your father and mother,
Ask pardon of your father and mother,
You'll be happy like no other.
Father... mother...
I ask for your blessing.
"Beware of false prophets,
who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravening wolves."
Instead of preaching the Kingdom of God,
they announce the Ukrainian kingdom.
And the effect? Escalation
of acts of sabotage
and even acts of murder
on the Polish citizens.
There is no more brotherly love between
the Poles and the Orthodox people.
- He's a Pole now?
- No! He is an Orthodox!
I appeal to the Orthodox believers
who are so numerously gathered here:
we are all children of one God.
And God willing, today's wedding
of Hela Glowacka and Vasil Huk
shall become the spark
that lights up the dying flame
of the bond of yesteryear.
The potatoes are at the parsonage,
we'll bring the flour after the harvest.
And we're expecting you at the feast.
You have to win.
Ready?
Come on!
Petro! What a ride!
I can't. State monopoly.
Suddenly you find money disgusting?
I have no license. The Poles have it.
The Poles sniff around and arrest us.
They confiscate everything:
pamphlets, guns...
And what happened to
Ukrainian schools?
They closed down all of them.
All right. I will sell you the vodka.
But at 2.50 a liter.
What?!
You are marrying a Polish girl
and can't afford good booze?
- You'd ask less if I were Polish.
- I'd ask more.
I'll give you a discount:
five cents per bottle.
- Ten.
- Deal.
Vasyl!
Meet Bohdan.
He came here from Lviv,
but he is our man.
- Glory to Jesus Christ.
- Forever and ever.
He planned to go to university,
but he's against the Polish law,
so they didn't let him.
Let's invite him to the wedding.
- Are you happy?
- Very.
And you?
Me?
Have you two already kissed?
They're coming!
Come on!
We'll win!
Kwiatkowski, get up!
Look here!
Communism is better.
Everyone gets the same.
Evenhandedly.
They force us to speak Polish
and practice Catholicism.
They demolish our churches
and tell us to go to their mass.
They want to make Poles out of us.
The Pole's a rich lad,
the Ukrainian's a cad.
You know what their gendarmes do?
They hang Ukrainian girls head-down.
- Whatever for?
- To make their skirts fall.
The skirts are colorful,
so they call them "tulips".
Oh welcome, welcome,
wedding korovai.
Oh, welcome, welcome,
delicious korovai.
Rich Maciej, do as you're told
Pay for the cake in gold.
If you care for this lass,
Leave some of it to us.
Money does not bring happiness.
But it's good to have it.
Rich man, do as you're told:
Pay for the korovai in gold.
- A wolf bit him!
- A dog.
Get me a cloth!
Is that a way to greet your priest?
No vodka?
Once they've tasted human blood,
they won't stop attacking.
Pass me the vodka!
And for the other foot?
My periwinkle maiden wreath,
I adorned you with heath.
I shall put you in my dowry chest
I shall put you in my dowry chest.
Where from now on you shall rest.
Don't weep,
oh willow tree by the river.
Don't weep,
oh willow tree by the river.
Don't shed tears over me,
dear mother...
Let's drink Hitler's health.
He will help us create
sovereign Ukraine.
You'll see.
She's too young for you, Maciej.
- People will scorn.
- No more than they do today.
That her sister married a khokhol.
- You hold a grudge against him?
- Not at all.
Better marry a Ukrainian than a Jew.
All right.
I know I am older than her.
But I'll sign over the land.
And love will come with time.
Your wife passed away
less than a year ago.
I need a new one to help me
with the kids and the farm.
Do we have a deal?
Fifteen acres.
Ten.
But the best ones.
Two pigs and a cow.
A horse.
And we must hurry with the wedding.
It's nearly harvest time
and they say war is imminent.
Swear to me...
that you'll never love another.
I swear.
I swear to God.
Mom... I have to tell you something.
We have something to tell you, too.
You will marry Maciej.
They say the Poles closed down
the Orthodox churches...
and obviated the cult.
And I was told they were not in use.
Not in use? So many of them?
- What do you mean?
- Hey!
We need to talk, Father.
The night was mournful
and the morning was grey.
For my darling has gone away.
Go and say goodbye.
Don't make a scene.
- Kill me.
- It's decided.
- I will never love him...
- Come on.
Let's go.
Wander away, Hela,
wander away.
Why are you crying, silly?
Don't be a baby.
We'll come and visit in fall.
My little Zofia.
Leave the keys on the table.
You'll have a new house and stable.
You will have another home
Where you will be on your own.
Petro!
Budki Osowskie...
Osy...
And then Kustycze.
Is your farm a big one?
No, it isn't. I am a teacher's son.
The Soviets attacked
from the other side.
Poland is no more.
If you you want to die,
do it for Ukraine.
Some more Ukrainians escaped.
Bury the dead, disperse
and return home safely.
This is my last order.
Well? What do you say?
She's so young.
Much younger than you, Corporal.
And what would I do with an old one?
I was drafted right after the wedding.
Right after?
So you didn't get a chance to dip it.
Hey... You snot.
I dipped it, all right.
And I swear I'll get back to her.
To them. I have children
from my first marriage.
- Godspeed.
- Godspeed.
It's good, isn't it?
- Take that off!
- Polish lords!
Give me that uniform!
- Well?
- The uniform!
- No!
- Take it off!
No... No!!!
Oles!
Oles, you little shit!
Franek, the cows.
One, two, thee, Oles caught a flea!
Hawryluk, when you're done,
cut the grass and load the chaff-cutter.
All right.
Franek, the cows!
Moshe? Be afraid.
You're hiding here again?
What, bitch?
Moshe! Moshe!
There's vodka!
Have you got bacon?
I have been waiting for you...
And our...
Franek!
Who will tend the cows?!
You're not my mother!
You can't order me around.
Cross yourself.
You want to drink milk?
Then run to the pasture!
Mother says, the Soviets stole our hen.
Why did you let them do it?
Enough.
Don't make them call her "mother."
Their mother died.
This is my house, not yours.
I do what I please.
I'll feed the cows.
Nothing is done properly here!
Don't you mind the old hag.
She'll get used to you.
Oh Lord,
bless us and these Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
We are going to have a baby.
Praised be the Lord.
To our son.
How do you know it's a son?
Keep your eyes off her
or you won't recognize yourself
in the mirror.
- Is he back?
- What do you want?
You're married.
What are you looking for?!
- Is he back or not?
- Not!
Where have you been?!
At my parents'.
- Brought them some eggs.
- You were in Zawodzie.
In Hapyna's house.
I went to her because...
she's a midwife.
To ask if we can...
What?
You know...
I hear the school is open.
I can give your kids a lift.
To school?
Zofia?
Are you all right?
Nothing's changed since yesterday.
You saw each other, right?
Yesterday? Ah, yeah.
Kids, new times, a new teacher.
We'll see what language
you'll end up speaking.
Get changed.
I need you to help
with the cabbage at noon.
And you fry me some eggs.
On bacon.
We won't need this.
It's a superstition.
Just like your little crosses
and medallions.
Who is wearing one? Hands up.
Take them off and put
them on the desk.
You're alive...
Praised be the Lord.
...and provisions.
And anyone refusing to pay
will be considered
a counterrevolutionary.
Their land
will be incorporated into the kolhoz.
You want us to deliver at wartime?
- We are facing starvation.
- Quiet!
What will we sow the fields with?
Now we have only one color!
The red one!
Now about the oppression
of the Polish landlords.
The Polish landlords and capitalists
oppressed
the people of Western Ukraine.
Bound them in chains of slavery
and oppression.
Where to?
And the little one?
The little one will go with us.
Whose child are you carrying there?
Did he sweep your chimney?!
I'm going to bed.
NKVD! Open up!
- Skiba, Matvei Casimirovich?
- What is it?
- Silence!
- Stop!
Shut up, scum!
Where is the gun?!
Pack up your stuff and food!
Dress your kids!
Are you deaf, bitch? Move it!
You have half an hour!
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death.
Out of the way!
Load them up!
- Leave me alone!
- Move!
- Skiba, Matvei Casimirovich.
- And family?
- Yes!
- Car number 7.
Get out! Quick!
Move it!
It's retaliation for 1920,
when we beat the hell out of them.
The Polish bloodsuckers
will not oppress our people
any longer!
- Yeah!
- Bravo! That's right!
Open up.
Yet Poles still live here
and this is bad.
Because they cannot be trusted.
They will always remain enemies
of the working people of Ukraine!
Skiba, Zofia.
- Zofia, are you all right?
- Look after my farm.
Are you all right, Zofia?
Hostile blood will always
manifest itself,
even in the third generation!
- It will!
- Deport them!
- Deport them!
- Shuma, your mother was Polish!
- Shut up!
- Dumb woman.
Shuma is right!
No. We have to deport all of them.
- You'll say one of them died.
- No.
The corpses must reach
the destination, too.
You'll find someone else,
the numbers will match.
The rest of the vodka is yours.
Blessed art Thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of Thy womb...
Skiba, Zofia.
Get off!
Come on!
Step back!
Back!
Run to her father's house!
Everything's going to be fine.
Haven't you suffered enough
because of her?!
Mom!
Take her clothes off!
Heat the water!
She can't stay here!
She's a runaway,
that's punished by death!
We can't feed her!
When did your water break?
When?
- I don't know.
- You never know a thing!
I love you.
Come on!
That's right. Come on, push! Push!
Hush! Come on!
Push!
- There you are, scum!
- What's the matter, Commander?
Where's the vodka?
I don't understand.
What is it you don't understand?
You're Pietya, right?
The NKVD deals with passports
and political matters.
The Militia is responsible
for registrations and public order.
Yet for that vodka I have to
shoot you personally.
Petro?
Why are you lying here?
It's cold here.
Petro... get up.
Get up.
Get up, Petro!
Get up!
Petro! Get up...
Where were you?
Tell the brat he can't dick around here.
- One's got to work...
- Our house is empty!
Do you think dad is alive?
I don't know.
One should pray and hope for the best.
And if he died, who will get the farm?
You or me and Franek?
Franek, get back here!
Moshe!
Maybe they are already at the gate?
We want to welcome
the victorious German army
with great joy
and gratitude!
We expected you to come
from the direction of Zawodzie.
Never mind that.
We are happy that our
new Ukrainian...
state and the great Germany
will cooperate!
Long live the Organization
of Ukrainian Nationalists!
Long live Stepan Bandera!
Long live the Fhrer, Adolf Hitler!
Let me go!
What are you doing?!
Are there any other Jews
in the village?
Esther!
There were kids, too.
A boy and two girls.
Find all the others.
And later bury the corpses.
There's one!
Where are they?
Anyone who shelters the Jews
will be shot.
- Those potatoes... Where are they?
- Maybe they stuck to Hawryluks' hands.
I won't play with you anymore.
You're a Pole.
"Heyta" means turn right.
"Giddyup" means forward. Go. Go.
- Go.
- Dad, stop, I forgot my hoe.
Whoa!
- I'll come back on foot.
- Drive on. Go.
And what about your children?
Moshe has been here since summer.
You were and are stupid!
Hawryluk or the Poles will denounce you!
They must be gone by tomorrow,
or I'll hand them over to the Germans!
Don't you dare risk your life
for those Kikes.
Nor mine nor your mother's.
Zofia!
- Can I drive?
- No.
I need to take the food quota
to the Germans.
I almost forgot.
Hela wrote us.
They have a little daughter.
Good morning.
What? Will you pierce me through?
Look for the Jews!
Hey, Jews! Koshies!
What now?
I will pay you!
I buried some golden rubles
in the woods! You'll be rich!
Rich!
But you have to give us shelter
for the whole winter.
My wife is sick! We need
some dog lard.
Quiet!
You will not falter to perform
the most dangerous deed,
if required for the good of the cause.
Repeat.
You will not falter to perform
the most dangerous deed,
- even if...
- Well?
Can't you memorize that? Next one.
You shall receive the enemies of your
nation with hatred and deceit.
Your wife is not moving.
Where is the money?
How much further?
Run.
They wrote on yours, too.
Any news of Maciej? Is he alive?
Maybe. Why?
I'm just asking.
Because I wanted to tell you that...
I don't...
I don't have a woman. Yet.
And if you'd only wish...
- What is going on?
- The river brought something.
It's the priest!
Lord, have mercy...
They are animals, not people.
Animals do not torture.
They mark the walls.
"102" on the Ukrainian houses
and crosses on the Polish ones.
We had four crosses,
as there were four of us,
before you came back.
Another hen went missing today.
Carefully.
Where are you going?
We have no grain.
We need a new dog,
padlocks and bolts.
It's better to lock the house.
Aren't you scared?
Don't be stupid. They all know me.
They knew the priest, too.
Giddyup!
We're running out of kerosene!
That's the way to do it.
When will daddy be back?
Cross the red ones.
I'll raise Skiba's children
like my own.
One meter away from the head,
or the blood will stain your uniform.
Understood?
Stop!
Stand still!
Kwiatkowski proposed to you.
Why didn't you accept him?
- For good luck.
- God willing.
"Antoni."
- "Wilk."
- His eyes are open.
Who are you?
- He doesn't look Jewish, but...
- It's my house, I'll do what I please.
You're it!
Here you are.
Hit with all the surface.
Whoa!
What's a railwayman doing here?
I came to help.
With the farmwork.
You took a liking to Skiba's widow?
I'll assign you
to the next forced labor commission.
And tell her to bring the Germans
grain for the tax.
It's high time. And I need to see
the receipts for the milk.
- Name?
- Zofia Skiba, nee Glowacka.
A hen, a cow.
And a horse.
- Do you know what honor is?
- No.
Honor is this thing...
that makes you keep your word.
No matter what.
When?
Tomorrow.
Leave that and go to bed.
Stop!
A Pole?
You're lucky we are not Ukrainian.
Give us some food and moonshine
and we'll let you go.
How much did you get?
- As much as you wanted.
- I wanted more!
Potatoes, potatoes...
- And then they took his eyes out.
- There are but women in our village.
The men who weren't sent to Siberia
ended up as forced labor in Germany.
All I know
is that our Ukrainian neighbors
promised to warn us in case of danger.
Got vodka?
The Ukrainian Military Organization
and OUN carried out a thousand attacks,
arsons, assaults, executions.
They killed the Poles,
and the Ukrainians who wanted to
come to terms with Poland.
My boots are too tight.
Go back and wait.
I'll report about the Kikes.
- Thank you.
- Godspeed.
God be with you.
Giddyup!
An egg. An egg.
The Krauts are finished.
Defeated at Stalingrad.
We need to organize.
The Germans are less dangerous
than the Ukrainian bands.
I won't abandon my family.
There's the transportation permit.
Send him to the station.
- Is that clear?
- Yes, sir. The station.
Come here.
Your papers.
Has Romek returned?
Orlyk!
You knocked my teeth out
with the flail, remember?
Shut your face!
My late husband's.
Where should I bury it?
You shall win the Ukrainian state
or die fighting for it!
You won't allow anybody to profane
the glory and honor of your nation!
Remember the great days
of our struggle for freedom!
How would strangers know
where the Poles lived?
The neighbors were informers.
Or killers.
- We must defend ourselves.
- Who?
And with what? They are armed.
- Our Ukrainians will warn us.
- We're safe.
Then why do we sleep in hideouts?
You may sleep where you want.
I sleep at home.
And take pride...
...in continuing the fight...
...for the glory
of Volodymyr's Trident!
Avenge the death of our
great warriors!
Don't discuss the cause with anybody.
Discuss it with somebody!
There's aunt Bronka.
I'm Maciej's sister.
Will you give us shelter?
They attacked us at night,
just after St. Joseph's Day...
surrounded the village.
The Banderists entered first,
followed by the Ukrainians.
The ones from Bialka, Jablonna...
Kamionka, Wielkie Pole...
Our neighbors.
They slaughtered us with axes.
Burned alive in barns.
My little daughters, Ola and Henia...
They searched farms and fields...
finishing off the wounded.
We spent the whole night in a ditch.
And merciful God saved us.
Zawodzie is on fire!
They are burning whole villages.
Even if they don't find us...
Sleep.
- You'll be back tomorrow.
- I won't leave them.
It's an order.
They need a guide.
Why you?
They're going to Kustycze.
It's my village.
You're not going anywhere.
Good morning.
Can I ask you something?
Where's that secret group
that plan to fight the Germans, and can't
protect us against forks and axes?
This is going to change.
Aren't you afraid of the Germans?
They all hid in the cities.
Kustycze is just behind these woods.
And that clearing is at your right
by the oaks.
They'll kill you.
If they decide to do so,
this gun won't help me.
Soldier's honor is my weapon.
I'll go with you.
All right. Just you.
And you take cover in the woods.
Trybus, you're in charge.
Zajdel!
- Escort this man home in safety.
- Yes, sir.
I came to tell you
that you mustn't fear.
Nothing will happen here. It is over.
We have a truce with the Poles.
Don't look at me like I was a bandit.
It's time to think about he harvest.
God bless.
- All nations are brothers.
- God bless.
Each has the right to live
and aim for the wellbeing
of its people.
But it deeply wrong
and disadvantageous
to dissociate the wellbeing
from decency.
The world is infected
with intemperate devotion
to one's fatherland, to one's nation.
And such devotion may be measured
by the strength of hatred towards
other nations.
Cpt. Zygmunt Krzemieniecki.
It's me. I am the emissary.
The Polish Government in London
and OUN
agreed that both sides
should meet unarmed.
I've read your poems.
The one about
the two fatherlands is very good.
With whom do I have the honor?
With the free Ukraine!
Go!
The Banderists!
The Holy Scripture says,
"When the wheat
sprouted and formed heads,
then the weeds also appeared.
The owner's servants came to him
and said, 'Sir,
didn't you sow good seed in your field?
Where then did the weeds come from?'
'An enemy did this,'
he replied."
Let us not delude ourselves,
that there is a nation
free of this poison.
Let each member of every nation
and every faith
feel like they were at home.
And being a member
of a particular faith
should not imply wrongdoings,
evil thoughts,
and bad deeds.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want
us to go and pull them up?'
And he answered, 'No,
because while you are pulling the weeds,
you may uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together
until the harvest.
At that time
I will tell the harvesters:
First collect the weeds and tie them
in bundles to be burned.
Then gather the wheat and
bring it into my barn."
Let people of all faiths
and, if there is such need,
of all languages,
spread the Word of God.
Brothers and sisters,
we need to
cleanse the Ukrainian soil!
Let the villages
with brick houses or those
that are difficult to access
receive all Polish refugees.
I need to get back to my family.
Do you know a trustworthy Ukrainian?
- Arm yourselves!
- After the mass.
Unite.
Organize self-defence squads.
Don't wait until you are butchered!
We need to fill the rivers
with Polish blood,
because Ukraine has to be pure
like water in a glass!
You will not falter to perform
the most dangerous deed...
...if required for the good
of the cause!
In the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let your harvest be plentiful.
With hatred and deceit...
...you shall receive the enemies
of your nation.
- Glory to Ukraine!
- Glory to the heroes!
Glory to Ukraine!
...deliver us from all dangers...
...reconcile us with Thy Son...
- Banderists!
Get out.
Come.
Come.
Look for those Poles!
Light him up.
For oppressing our nation!
Death!
For the land of our fathers!
Death to the Poles!
- For Volhynia!
- Death to the Poles!
For free Ukraine!
Death to the Poles!
- Are there any Poles here?
- There are! All dead.
Get your stuff,
we'll burn everything.
Go to your sister's.
But walk slowly.
The Ukrainians fear nothing.
They won't run away.
A Pole!
You have to go that way.
Stop!
Where are you going?
We're Ukrainian.
But you are dressed like a Pole.
We stole from the Poles.
Cross yourself
and say the Lord's Prayer.
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name...
- Thy kingdom...
- I am hungry.
- He's hungry.
- We nearly killed a Ukrainian girl.
So we stuck this kid
into a bale of straw
- and set it on fire.
- Whom will you visit?
Polishtshukova.
How did this Polish woman wail!
Ivanko had to silence her
with a fork.
I know her. She has a daughter.
A son.
And the father's hair...
turned white in half an hour.
And I personally cut the scalp
off his head.
You have to kill her.
Otherwise you'll all be dead!
You are my brother.
That's why you are still alive.
Because I'm your brother.
All others who refuse
to serve Stepan Bandera,
get a bullet in their head.
Your wife is a Pole.
You can't help her.
But you and the kids will live.
Rock-a-bye...
Rock-a-bye...
in your limewood cradle...
Let her go! She's Polish!
- Of your very own blood!
- Shut up!
You fancied a Banderist?
See what they do to our babies!
Let's move on.