All Our Fears

Inspired by the true story of conceptual artist Daniel Rycharski, All Our Fears has a very poignant subject matter, excellent actors, an almost documentary style and is very topical, at least in Poland. The protagonist, brilliantly portrayed by Dawid Ogrodnik, as a strongly religious Catholic and gay man, inevitably faces intolerance from the majority of the inhabitants of the Polish countryside where he lives and creates his controversial works of art. His work reflects not only sin and acceptance, but also the finality of earthly existence and rebirth, which, however, here grows into a desperately urgent testimony about longing for a dignified human existence free from prejudice. (75%) (06/02/2023)

(Possible spoilers!) Every year there are many LGBT films, but All Our Fears is not lost among them, if only because of the main character Daniel is a gay man, a believer, a villager and a Pole all rolled into one. The film thus clashes on multiple levels, the most prominent of which are the religious and collective ones. The fate of Jagoda is just a sad but quite real reminder of the ever-present problem of senseless hatred towards sexual minorities. It was interesting to see how the media selects "sensational stories from a village". Despite the serious subject matter, the film has more than a few humorous moments, especially provided by Daniel's spirited grandmother. Still, I was quite sick of the behaviour of many of the characters. This film should be a must-see in Poland. (31/07/2022)

According to the annotation, there were too many red flags fluttering in the air, but the authentically photographed damp Polish countryside (virtually identical to ours) and the integrity of the protagonist (as usual, the unflappable Ogrodnik), who is part rural yokel, part arrogant artist, and part loving human being thankfully pushes it far beyond the anticipated lameness. (03/08/2022)