Film info

SYNOPSIS

ALL THAT I LOVE (Wszystko co kocham)
Directed by Jacek Borcuch


It's the spring of 1981. In a little seaside town, four 18-year-olds - Janek, Kazik, Diabeł and Staszek - form their own punk-rock band. Their lead singer is Janek, a sensitive poetic- type and son of a navy captain. His brother Staszek is the drummer. Kazik is the most rebellious of the pack and uses music as an escape from his troubles with his alcoholic father who works at the port. Diabeł comes from a wealthy family, his father being a local businessman. Boys dream of performing at the summer music festival in a nearby city. Their passion for music is so strong that they borrow and even steal instruments from the music school to be able to play. They hold their rehearsals in an old train wagon.

In the meantime the Solidarity movement initiates a massive wave of workers' protests, which sweeps throughout Poland. The communist authorities consider ways of destroying the Solidarity movement. The tension is almost physically tangible.

The boys, apart from their love for music, also share a fascination for the mature beauty of Janek's attractive neighbour Sokołowska, the wife of a political navy officer. They also have a teenage crush on their schoolmate Basia. She starts dating Janek, much to the disapproval of her union-leader father who doesn't like his daughter befriending the son of an officer.

During the summer holidays the band gets invited to the music festival. Thanks to Janek's father boys are able to rehearse not only in the old train wagon but also in the hall at the navy barracks. The band receives an award at the festival. Boys are thrilled. It's their first success.

Winter 1981. The atmosphere in the country grows tense. On December 13, 1981, the day that martial law is imposed, the political situation clashes with boys' lives. Initially they're happy and joyful as they don't have to go to school but soon things get scary with the arrival of tanks and soldiers. They are supposed to protect their military family housing but they also control the lives of its' inhabitants. Sokołowski becomes a military commissar and absolute ruler of the town.

Janek needs to accompany his father to a distant village where his Grandma is dying. Before leaving, he rushes off to say good-bye to Basia. Tearful Basia won't talk to him; her father has just been taken away by the political police. She breaks up with Janek, which is a great blow to him. He helps his father to take care of his Grandma. Her death is another big blow. Janek tries to express his experiences of love, friendship, unfair judgment and the death of a loved one, through his music and lyrics. He's forced into adulthood almost overnight.

Spring 1982. Boys try to fight off the boredom of the martial law. They drink cheap wine in the courtyard and tease Janek into talking to their neighbour Sokołowska. Unwilling at first, he discovers she actually has a weak spot for him. They have an affair. Janek gives her the band's demo-tape as a gift. The cassette accidentally finds its' way into Sokołowski's hands.

Boys want to play at the school prom at the end of the school year. Everything has been already arranged when a teacher accompanied by Sokołowski bans the concert. Sokołowski knows their music from the tape. It's rebellious and hasn't been approved by the censorship authorities. If boys played their songs, then they and their families would pay the price. Janek is concerned for his father and also for himself. It's a tough test for a band which, until now, has only been using "rebellion" as a notion in its lyrics. Now they feel the weight it carries. They argue. Kazik wants to play no matter what. Janek hesitates. What are they going to do?

They intend to come out on stage just to say good-bye but a careless word and the public's reaction triggers their passion and rebellion. For this short moment, on this particular evening, freedom and madness overwhelm the school's youth. It's beyond anyone's control. After the concert, Janek's and Basia's love is revived, but as it turns out, not for long.

Meanwhile, Sokołowski did just as he had promised. The concert has its consequences. The authorities interpreted the event as an anti-communist protest. Janek's father, fearing proscription retires from the military and moves out from their navy housing. Basia together with her father recently released from prison, and the rest of her family, are forced to emigrate.

Janek sees Sokołowski as the source of all his loved ones' troubles and miseries. He needs to punish or at least confront him. He takes his hockey stick from behind the closet and runs outside. He waits in the backyard for Sokołowski to come home. He faces him there - a boy with a hockey stick opposite an armed officer...

The movie's closing scene brings closure but at the same time poses more questions.

« back