Tam i z powrotem (2002)

Director:

Wojciech Wójcik

Writers:

Pawel Mossakowski (co-screenwriter)
Anna Swierkocka (writer)

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Moral Choice | 1960s | Communism | Doctor | Passport

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Janusz Gajos	...	Andrzej Hoffman
Jan Frycz	...	Piotr Klimek 'Jurek'
Olaf Lubaszenko	...	Lt. Niewczas
Miroslaw Baka	...	Wieslaw Król
Edyta Olszówka	...	Krystyna
Krzysztof Kolbasiuk	...	Head of the hospital
Slawomir Orzechowski	...	Priest Józef
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Waldemar Blaszczyk
Tomasz Blazejczyk
Pawel Burczyk	...	Young doctor
Waldemar Czyszak	...	Tall man
Anna Dabkowska	...	Helka Górniak (Hoffman's neighbor)
Witold Debicki	...	Sacristan
Maciej Ferlak	...	Fat man
Andrzej Golejewski
Ewa Gorzelak	...	Nurse
Jaroslaw Gruda	...	Policeman interrogating Hoffman
Ryszard Jablonski
Mariusz Jakus	...	Antoni Majcherek (Hoffman's neighbor)
Anita Jancia	...	Nurse
Michal Jarmicki
Martyna Kliszewska	...	Nurse
Arkadiusz Kosianowski	...	Guard
Ireneusz Koziol	...	Drunkard
Lech Lotocki	...	Neurologist
Ireneusz Machnicki
Lucyna Malec	...	Lt. Lesien's secretary
Bogdan Michalak	...	Bank guard
Olga Milaszewska	...	Bartender
Jerzy Molga
Czeslaw Nogacki	...	Hoffman's neighbor
Marek Nowakowski	...	Plainclothes police officer at Hoffman's apartment
Janusz Rafal Nowicki	...	Lt. Lesien
Mariusz Olbinski	...	Policeman
Boguslawa Pawelec
Jan Peczek	...	Capt. Molski
Dorota Piasecka	...	Waitress
Anna Piróg	...	Nurse
Jerzy Rogalski	...	Zygmunt Górniak (Hoffman's neighbor)
Zdzislaw Rychter
Danuta Rynkiewicz	...	Sister Marta
Boguslaw Sar
Anna Grazyna Suchocka	...	Woman in the window
Joanna Sydor-Klepacka	...	Judy Hartwig (Hoffman's wife)
Pawel Szczesny
Ewa Tucholska
Wojciech Walasik	...	Policeman
Maciej Wilewski	...	Plainclothes policeman
Aleksander Wysocki	...	Kulas
Dorota Zieciowska	...	Patient's wife

Also Known As:

There and Back (International: English title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Lódz, Poland

Company:

Agencja Produkcji Filmowej

Hope survives against the odds

Stories of hope, betrayal and disillusion are very common in film but this has the unusual setting of Poland during the 1960s. All the deadening uniformity of the times comes out on the screen as does, what appears to this era, the shoddiness of a planned economy dominated from outside. The story of a doctor condemned to the fringes of his profession by his refusal to embrace the Party orthodoxy is well told and there is a surprising twist to the end of the plot.

Although both main characters suffer from the excesses of petty bullying by officialdom, it is not portrayed in a didactic sense and those who go along with the system are treated with enough ambiguity to show that everyone had his own way of dealing with life back then.

The film is dominated throughout by the superb performance of Janusz Gajos as Dr. Hoffmann. Pushed to the edges of tolerance by an unseen enemy that never forgets, he manages to keep the flame of hope alive despite his almost total withdrawal from life outside his job. Grosz's brooding presence fills every scene and provides a focus of decency when all around appear to have lost theirs.