The Beads Of One Rosary (1980). The final of Kutz’s Silesian trilogy
Nine years after presenting his movie Pearl In The Crown, Kazimierz Kutz came up with another dramatic story involving his homeland Silesia and the hard-working coal miners.
The Beads Of One Rosary (In Polish: Paciorki jednego rózanca) was a movie dedicated to the late father of the Polish film director, who died in 1971. The story is once again centered on the life of Silesian coal miners. This time, the movie shows a retired miner Karol Habryka, who is a renowned man — a former Silesian insurgent and a labor veteran with dozens of medals on his parade uniform. What is interesting about the portrayal of the main protagonist is that Augustyn Halotta, who was selected for this role, was a former miner himself. He was not a professional actor. However, the man had some charisma.
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The action of this movie is set in the industrial city of Katowice, specifically, in the district of Giszowiec. The main hero sees how the world around him changes in a way he dislikes. One neighbor after another sees their old houses being demolished to give a clear path to the building process of a new neighborhood of blockhouses, meant for the families of coal miners. However, don’t assume that this is a story about evil Communists taking away everything from their people. In this case, Habryka and all the other retired miners receive the keys to a new apartment in these blockhouses in exchange for their old houses. The problem is that Habryka has no intention to accept such an offer.
The Beads Of One Rosary presents a viewer with two perspectives on the situation. One is connected to a deeply personal experience of the director and the stubbornness of the old miner. The other one comes from the children of Habryka. One of his sons tries to convince his father to accept the offer and move into the new apartment, while the youngest son (who also works in the local coal mine) shows solidarity with his father’s old-fashioned, yet strong views. Habryka feels like an old tree that does not wants to find itself re-planted in new soil. He lived 50 years in this house, what’s the point of changing it toward the end of life?
The movie gives a dual and conflicting feeling. You can kind of understand both sides. Neither of them has any bad intentions, yet the tensions grow and turn into a conflict. The stubbornness of Habryka has the right to exist. He worked hard all his life and earned a name for being an exemplary worker, but there is the other side of this coin — his children. The wife of Habryka is ready to move to the new apartment, the eldest son also supports such a decision, as well as the wife of the youngest son. Is it worth showing stubbornness at an old age in a situation where it is damaging the future of your children? When thinking about it from such a perspective, it is hard to sympathize with Habryka’s slightly arrogant behaviors.
However, Kutz allows the viewer to pick his side. The opinion or vision of the director isn’t being imposed on the viewer’s mind. Even while there are tensions and opinions differ, no character got portrayed as some kind of a villain. Such situations with the exchange of apartments were nothing unusual during the Communist period. It is common even nowadays when companies purchase lands and properties from people that happen to have those properties on the way of some major architectural or industrial project. If Kutz would have showed that the government mercilessly takes away the house from the old miner, the sentiments would be obvious.
The Beads Of One Rosary is a multi-dimensional cinematic work. It has everything — personal experiences, the authentic atmosphere of a specific period, and the never-ending conflict between the generations. It’s a very solid and useful cinematic experience, definitely worth having a high rating and the viewer’s attention.
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