Krzysztof Zanussi’s film Z dalekiego kraju [From a Far Country] is not a complete biography of Karol Wojtyła. The director’s intent was to present the people, places and events that influenced the personality of the future Pope from Poland, unknown to most viewers from behind the Iron Curtain. Unlike later productions (Karol: il Papa rimasto uomo; Pope John Paul II), the figure of Karol Wojtyła is not central to the film: the director introduces narrator’s commentaries and fragments of documentaries, explaining what was happening in Poland during its history (World War II, the period of communism, hope after the election of John Paul II), meanwhile the protagonist is seen from a distance or only mentioned in dialogues of his friends. The paper stresses that, in this way, Poland is not a faraway country; Wojtyła becomes near and recognizable in documentary shots as the Pope. In this way, Zanussi avoids the danger of creating a hagiographic narration.
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