“Green Border” (“Zielona granica”) (2023 production, 2024 release). Cast: Jalal Altawil, Dalia Naous, Al Rashi Mohamad, Taim Ajjan, Talia Ajjan, Sebabastian Svaton, Behi Djonati Atai, Tomasz Włoszak, Katalrzyna Obidzinska, Malwina Buss, Helena Ganjalyan, Monika Frajczyk, Piotr Stramowski, Jaśmina Polak, Michael Zieliński, Marta Stalmierska, Maja Ostaszewska, Maciej Stuhr, Agata Kulesza, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Joely Mbunda, Magdelena Poplawska, Tomasz Jaskowski, Klementyna Lamort De Gail, Grzegorz Gromek, Michael Wawrykiewicz, Sandra Korzeniak, Noah Meskina, Jonathan Louhoua, Georges-Anthony Van Keer, Gabriel Ossotachenho, James Cyiza. Director: Agnieszka Holland. Screenplay: Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Lazarkiewicz and Agnieszka Holland. Web site. Trailer.
There are so many things that can go wrong in life that it hardly seems wise, practical or prudent to go looking for ways to make our existence any more needlessly grueling. Yet, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, there are plenty of situations that can all too easily yield undue stress, pain and difficulty – and all as a result of our own making, too. But why would we do that? Why would we willingly seek to impose pointless hardships on ourselves and others when a little compassion, empathy and concern would go a long way toward avoiding such conditions and creating a harmonious, mutually beneficial, issue-free world? Indeed, to do otherwise defies common sense, yet we’re nevertheless often confronted with having to address such meaningless, unproductive circumstances, conditions desperately in need of benevolence as candidly depicted in the gripping new humanitarian drama, “Green Border” (“Zielona granica”).
However, as more refugees availed themselves of the green border, neither Belarus nor Poland wanted to deal with a flood of new arrivals. What’s more, it was believed in the conservatively governed Poland that the escapees posed a serious security threat to the nation’s well-being and sovereignty, that the refugees were “plants” sent there by Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, the strongman leaders of Russia and Belarus, respectively, whose mission was to disrupt life in Polish society. Consequently, the border patrols in both countries engaged in aggressive campaigns of brutally rounding up and unceremoniously dumping the escapees back in each other’s territory. These repeated back-and-forth switches thus subjected those caught in the middle to inhumane treatment and unspeakable perils with each reversal, a practice little known outside the region at the time.
This film shines a bright light on this scenario, examining it through four interwoven story threads that explore it from the various perspectives of those involved:
- The Refugees. As portrayed here, immigrants from far and wide make their way to the green border as an entry point into the European Union. For many, Poland is not their final destination, either; many are bound for Germany, Sweden, the UK and other locales. However, as noted above, conservative Poles don’t believe that, assuming that the new arrivals will settle for the path of least resistance and put down roots in their country. The harrowing experiences of the refugees are depicted through a variety of individual stories, most notably that of a Syrian couple, Bashir (Jalal Altawil) and Amina (Dalia Naous), their three children (Taim Ajjan, Talia Ajjan, Sebabastian Svaton), and Bashir’s elderly father (Al Rashi Mohamad), along with a middle-aged Afghan woman, Leila (Behi Djonati Atai), whom they meet in transit. However, not long after seemingly crossing the border safely, their lives are thrown in unexpected turmoil, with a series of catastrophic incidents they hadn’t envisioned or prepared for.
- The Border Patrol Guards. As the refugees appear on the border, the guards patrolling each side of the crossing are charged with simple, straightforward orders: get the escapees out of their respective countries and into the territory of their neighbors by any means possible, no matter how aggressive or brutal they must be in the process. And most of the guards carry out those orders without any hesitation, sometimes even taking a perverse glee in their actions. However, not everyone readily goes along with these mandates, experiencing troubling conscience-related issues as a consequence. That’s very much the case with Janek (Tomasz Włoszak), who’s clearly conflicted despite efforts to maintain a façade to the contrary when in the company of his peers. But that changes when he goes home to his pregnant wife, who chides him, wondering how he can possibly live with himself.
- The Activists. Not everyone in Poland blindly goes along with the official government policies. Activists like Marta (Monika Frajczyk) and Masiek (Piotr Stramowski) do what they can to help out refugees in need. However, they must proceed cautiously to avoid serious penalties for breaking the law. They thus walk a fine line between providing much-needed assistance and keeping out of the way of authorities, a tightrope that often forces them to make difficult choices in light of the circumstances and consequences facing them and the escapees.
- The Reformers. For some who believe that the work of the activists doesn’t go far enough, there are the reformers, who are willing to take bigger risks to aid the refugees, thereby frequently putting both the helped and the helpers in serious jeopardy. These efforts are spurred on by Zuku (Jaśmina Polak), Marta’s sister, who’s not afraid to push the envelope when it comes to offering assistance, even if it involves behaving a little recklessly in the process. She and her cohorts, Sasza (Michael Zieliński) and Ula (Marta Stalmierska), win over an enthusiastic ally, Julia (Maja Ostaszewska), an online psychologist who works out of her rural home not far from the border. Julia had largely been on the sidelines where this issue is concerned until she becomes an unwitting participant in an incident that radically changes her outlook and behavior. In a heartbeat she switches tracks, zealously becoming involved in activities in which she once couldn’t possibly have envisioned herself as a participant. Together with her new associates, she tackles difficult assignments in hopes that they can make a difference and help change the minds of their countrymen.
As each story thread unfolds, they inevitably overlap with one another, showing how no one is isolated in scenarios like this, no matter how much anyone might like to think the opposite is true. It explores the soul searching in which each of us must engage, to help us decide how comfortable we might be with taking a stand or looking the other way under such diametrically opposed conditions. And it illustrates whether we’re capable of learning anything meaningful from these circumstances, both as individuals and as a collective society.
Not long after the time when this story is set, these considerations became crucial once again in 2022, when Poland faced yet another adjacent border crossing crisis, only this time on a much larger scale – the exodus of Ukrainians fleeing the nation’s devastating war with Russia. The question that arose in this instance was, did Polish citizens and authorities learn anything from the green border crisis? If so, what? And did the experience of the Ukraine exodus, in turn, help to rectify circumstances on the green border?
This is a film that gives viewers much to ponder, both in terms of the incidents that occurred on the green border and what we as supposedly civilized individuals can learn from them to carry forward in implementing new policies and practices. But, to address those issues, it’s imperative that we consider the beliefs that went into the reckless, irresponsible, short-sighted thinking and actions that preceded any such reforms. That’s due to the role our beliefs play in manifesting the reality we experience, a product of the conscious creation process, the philosophy responsible for the materialization of such realized outcomes. It’s difficult to assess how many of us – including those involved in the various story threads in this picture – are aware of this school of thought. However, when we examine the magnitude of the events that can arise from such ill-considered thinking, we shouldn’t downplay the role that we and our thoughts and beliefs can play in how they unfold, not to mention the impact they carry. As “Green Border” illustrates, there could be a lot riding on it.
The circumstances of the scenario depicted here provide a poignant case study for the foregoing questions. The green border crisis didn’t “just happen”; it was created, arising from the input of all the individuals involved in its manifestation. And that creation emerged principally from the thoughts, beliefs and intents that its creators put into its materialization, regardless of how consciously aware they were of it. But, in light of how things turned out, one can’t help but ask, why would anyone do that? Since when did intentionally harming the well-being of others yield anything beneficial? What would cause any of us to honestly believe that those seeking asylum would willfully harbor malevolent intents aimed at disrupting the social order of those supposedly facilitating safe passage to sanctuary (and, consequently, prompting us to believe that we must do anything – no matter how brutal – to prevent them from carrying out such plans, no matter how mistaken we might be)? And, in turn, if we understand the pointlessness behind the paranoic notions driving such misplaced perceptions, then why would we purposely seek to bring them into being?
It might be easy for many of us to summarily dismiss ideas like this. But what else would account for the manifestation of these conditions? Random chance? The aberrant acts of a capricious divine being? Mischievous demons getting their kicks? No matter how much we may try to deny it, though, the events unfolding here are driven by the individuals involved in them, beings whose consciousness is directly responsible for their emergence, for better or worse. But that once again brings us back to the key question, why?
As these circumstances reveal, beliefs are powerful tools that can be employed to yield an infinite range of outcomes. That, in turn, makes clear that we must be careful how we wield such power. We can certainly use it maliciously, as evidenced by the deplorable treatment inflicted on the refugees by the border guards and government officials and by opportunists who take advantage of their plight. Such outcomes can also be triggered by fear, a potent belief in itself, one that can drive us to irrational and unspeakable atrocities. No matter how these outcomes arise, causing harm like this is thus a questionable use of our power, even if we possess the ability to employ it in this fashion if we so choose. It would seem, then, that examples such as this implore us to use that power wisely.
Thankfully, our beliefs make alternative outcomes just as possible, as seen in the work of the activists and reformers. They embody the best of how belief power can be put to use. These efforts thus show that mankind is just as capable of creating good in the world as they are at fomenting mayhem.
Scenarios like this thus provide humanity with valuable opportunities for important life lessons. They show us how we can just as readily employ our beliefs to manifest positive outcomes as we can in creating negative results. In the process, they also provide us with significant opportunities for learning lessons related to concepts like choice and responsibility, important components in the mix of beliefs we formulate in materializing our existence. We can only hope that we make the right choices and willingly accept the responsibility that goes with them, no matter what creations we elect to ultimately manifest.
These circumstances also provide insights into other areas of the creative process. For instance, in deciding which choices we make, we have an opportunity to explore and develop our intuition, an important element in belief formation. That becomes apparent here, for example, in Julia’s case. After sitting on the sidelines for a prolonged period, she has a radical change of heart about her view of the Polish government’s handling of the refugees. What’s more, she adopts an approach that proves to be more radical than that of the activists. She seeks to go beyond their efforts and become a reformer, one who looks to implement more drastic measures for addressing the needs of escapees in dire peril. This also calls for her to employ unconventional practices when needed, as evidenced by her handling of a crisis in which she taps the unexpected (though valuable) assistance of a tow truck driver (Grzegorz Gromek) and one of her politically outspoken patients (Maciej Stuhr) to help resolve a particularly thorny crisis. Indeed, beliefs can accomplish a lot, especially when we make use of them in highly inventive ways.
These kinds of circumstances also show us how the power of our beliefs can be amplified when we pool our resources in acts of co-creation. As with any manifestation effort, this is true when we collaborate to put our belief power to use, in both positive and negative pursuits. The impact of this can be significant, no matter how the belief energy is combined and implemented, so this behooves us to choose carefully when determining how to put it to use collectively. That’s particularly important in a scenario like this in which the belief energies are simultaneously being diverted into opposing types of creations, conditions that can ultimately turn in either direction depending on where we choose to place our focus. In light of that, it’s thus important to remember that, as connected beings, we’re all a part of scenarios like this – and that we all have a stake in their eventual outcomes.
While watching “Green Border,” I was often shocked at what I saw playing out on screen, but, surprisingly, in both negative and positive ways. To be sure, the contrast between such opposites can be significant, but it’s heartening to know that, in the end, we each have the wherewithal to choose which path we wish to pursue. As much as I’d like to think I keep on top of world events, though, I must confess to having heard virtually nothing about the green border crisis before watching this film, so the story was quite eye-opening for me. However, as the story unfolded, I also couldn’t help but think about what impact the legacy of that crisis might have had on Poland’s response to the flood of Ukrainian refugees who began pouring across the border at the start of the war with Russia. Would the film address it? And, if so, what would it depict – a country that had learned its lesson from a prior crisis or the continuation of policies that produced more of the same? One can only hope that the trying circumstances of the green border crisis would provide the opportunity for a society to learn a valuable lesson when a new and even bigger challenge emerged.
This latest offering from acclaimed writer-director Agnieszka Holland sheds light on what happened during this turbulent situation, a troubling scenario that, unfortunately, despite some reforms, still continues to this day. In telling this story, the legendary filmmaker holds little back, openly acknowledging that she believed she had nothing to lose by doing so. Events are depicted with a clear sense of desperation, anger and outrage and a gritty realism that can make for a troubling watch at times (sensitive viewers take note). However, this release is an important and impactful film, one that draws attention to a crisis that deserves wider recognition in the international community. The picture’s carefully crafted narrative and insightful, superbly scripted screenplay provide an excellent, in-depth examination of the interactions among the various constituencies involved in this scenario. Its well-integrated combination of engaging, emotion-filled sequences and its captivating treatment of the principals’ diverse yet linked experiences are riveting, effectively holding viewing attention throughout, quite an achievement for a film with a 2:32:00 runtime. This accomplishment is largely made possible by this offering’s fine performances across the board, its well-executed pacing and its stunning black-and-white cinematography, attributes handily making this one of the most important and visually engrossing releases of 2024 and one of Holland’s career best works. “Green Border” truly should be on every cinephile’s must watch list for its hard-hitting impact and startling revelations, disclosures that anyone with a conscience should find impossible to ignore.
“Green Border” may not have staked a noteworthy reputation for itself as yet, but it certainly deserves whatever accolades it receives. The film has garnered considerable attention at film festivals, capturing multiple nominations and numerous awards. The picture was distributed in limited arthouse release over the summer, but, thankfully, it’s now available on home media and for streaming online. This one is really worth your time.
Given how we as a species like to think of ourselves as enlightened, civilized beings, it’s hard to fathom how we can still be caught up in scenarios like the green border crisis – sadly, one of many taking place around the globe these days. It would be comforting to think we’ve progressed beyond the insanity of such maddening conflicts. At the same time, though, there’s evidence here that we have at least given ourselves the opportunity to learn from our experiences and move on to a more progressively open-minded outlook. Let’s hope that’s one border we can eventually cross – and not look back.
Copyright © 2024, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.
#Green #Border #desperate #plea #humanity
