Minister slams Agnieszka Holland migration movie
A minister in the Polish Prime Minister's Office has described a film by acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland, based on the migration crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border, as "distorted and extremely dishonest."
The film, 'Green Border', follows a fictional group of refugees trying to get into Poland from Belarus. Once across the frontier, however, they are sent back by Polish Border Guards, apparently indifferent to their plight.
Green Border, which is scheduled to open in Poland on September 22, premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival to great critical acclaim, and garnered the Jury Prize for Holland.
But Michal Dworczyk dismissed the work in comments made on state-owned broadcaster TVP Info on Thursday.
"Everyone who lives in Poland and is not an ardent follower of (opposition leader - PAP) Donald Tusk, who has somehow preserved the skill of evaluating the reality that surrounds us, knows that the Agnieszka Holland's image concerning the situation on the border is distorted and extremely dishonest," Dworczyk said, adding that he saw "an entirely different opinion" in the West.
Dworczyk went on to say the film was intended to "not only present a false picture of events in Poland, but to discredit the Polish government.”
"This is their idea of how to cause problems for the Polish government, and consequently Poland, how to discredit the parliamentary majority that is in the Polish Sejm (lower house of parliament - PAP) at the moment," Dworczyk said.
Dworczyk joins a growing list of government ministers who have criticised the film.
The government has made migration a key point in its campaign for October’s general election, and has included two questions on the topic in a referendum it intends to hold on the same day as the election.
