Żeby nie było śladów

Poland in 1983. The state of war has only recently been lifted. Grzegorz Przemyk and his friends are in good spirits and celebrating their graduation in Warsaw's old town. Suddenly the police show up and what started as a carefree afternoon ends at the station. The boys are brutally beaten up and Grzegorz dies as a result in a human tragedy that gradually leads us to a harrowing encounter with the darkest depths of power. The police, the public prosecutor's office, the party and the intelligence service all attempt, with all the means at their disposal, to hide and cover up the young man's death by means of perfidious blackmail and violence. Indeed, they do not even stop at infiltrating the family's delicate bonds of loyalty in order to undermine their cohesion.

This film by J. P. Matuszynski is an almost relentless work that sheds light on power relations and the destructive power of a lie in a most meticulous yet unspectacular manner. The film is based on a true story: Grzegorz Petrzyk, son of the opposition writer Barbara Sadowska, died on 14 May 1983 as a result of police brutality.