The Big Animal

Can anyone truly love and devote their life to a camel? However surrealistic this may seem, this is the motif for this film by Polish director Jerzy Stuhr. The script was written in 1973 by Krzysztof Kielowski (with whom Jerzy worked in several films) but was found once more only in 1998. This is a parable on human intolerance. In an idyllic village in the mountains, Sawicki, a bank clerk, one day turns up with a camel. Nobody knows where it came from - not even Sawicki himself - nor his wife, who runs a kindergarten. The vision of a camel causes a commotion and righteous indignation among the population in town: people will not accept the animal: they charge it with frightening the children, blame it for dirt around town, and, of course, it is there without a permit... all of which spells impending tragedy. Mothers remove their children from Sawicki?s wife?s school. They hold demonstrations at the door of his house. And whatever else may happen, Sawicki loves the animal all the more. Without having committed any sort of crime, he is eventually to become the town?s Public Enemy Number One.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA