KREW BOGA

The missionary Willibrod is on his way to baptise a small remote, pagan settlement. Their civilization is more than unfamiliar to him: a wild, naked horde meets the preacher. The word baptism is alien to them. A young local man without a name helps him to carry out the missionary work – because the tribe is threatened with extermination by the royal army if they do not convert to Christianity. Willibrod finds himself in a conflict of conscience, but the disastrous course of events can no longer be contained. The reactions to Bartosz Konopka's THE MUTE, which was pitched at connecting cottbus in 2012 under the same title, range from consternation to uncertainty. The film contradicts usual styles of cinematic narrative and the expectations of the audience. Instead of explaining and expressing this in language, the director forces us to feel and intuitively comprehend the world he has created. It is a film about love and war, about evangelisation and the appetite for power, racism and a moral sense of superiority, civilisation and genocide. How much is a peace worth, and how flexible is morality when the “better world” is being imposed by force? A question that is still relevant today. KM