Petelski, Czesław

(1922-1996) and Ewa Petelski

(Poleska, 1920-)

   A married couple working together as scriptwriters and directors on the majority of their films. In 1959 Czesław Petelski directed Damned Roads (aka The Depot of the Dead, Baza ludzi umarłych, 1959), one of the canonical films of the Polish School and part of its Black Realism trend. Set after the war in the Bieszczady Mountains (in southeastern Poland), the film offers a dark portrayal of brutal, rootless men working as logging-truck drivers. Together, the Petelskis directed a war film set during the Warsaw Uprising, A Sky of Stone (Kamienne niebo, 1959), which deals with the fate of a group of Warsaw dwellers buried in the cellar of a collapsed building. Their next film, The Artillery Sergeant Kaleń (Ogniomistrz Kaleń, 1961), describes the bloody postwar conflict involving Ukrainian nationalists, remnants of the Polish underground fighting the Communist government, and regular Polish troops. The film's protagonist, Kaleń (Wiesław Gołas), is portrayed almost as a folk hero of this "cruel ballad." Toward the end of the Polish School, the Petelskis also directed an undervalued Holocaust drama, The Beater (aka Manhunter, Naganiacz, 1964).

   World War II features prominently in the Petelskis' later films such as The Rowan Tree (Jarzębina czerwona, 1970). Like Jerzy Passendorfer's war films, The Rowan Tree stresses the everyday aspect of war and the ordinary heroism of regular soldiers. The Pe-telskis never repeated the success of their first films, although they produced big-budget historical films such as Copernicus (Kopernik, 1973), partisan films such as Bołdyn (1981), and a lavish love story set against 1950s politics, The Stone Tablets (Kamienne tablice, 1983). Czesław Petelski also headed the film unit Iluzjon from 1963 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1987.

   Select other films: Three Stories (Trzy opowieści, 1953, with Konrad Nałęcki), The Wrecks (Wraki, 1957), Black Wings (Czarne skrzydła, 1963), The Wooden Rosary (Drewniany różaniec, 1965), Don Gabriel (1966), Casimir the Great (Kazimierz wielki, 1976), Return Ticket (Bilet powrotny, 1978), The Birthday (Urodziny młodego Warszawiaka, 1980), Who Is This Man? (Kim jest ten człowiek, 1984), Bitter Love (Gorzka miłość, 1989, Czesław Petelski).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof