Called by Benedict XVI right after the screening "a moving film story", "Testimony" presents four key motifs: Cardinal Stanisław's recollections of Karol Wojtyła, narration spun by the English actor Michael York to enhance the political background of featured events, documentary footage about Karol Wojtyła and dramatised scenes.

One thing is certain - these elements blend so fluently it is often difficult to tell when documentary footage comes to and end to give way to dramatisation. The perfect example is the plot of assassination of John Paul II in 1982 in Fatima. The Pope was attacked with a knife by a mad Spanish monk Juan Fernandez Krohn. Dziwisz admits in the movie that this fact had been kept secret for a long time.

The weakest link of the movie are dramatised scenes, or at least some of them. They tell-tale that the picture was made to universally appeal to international audiences. They resemble a naive nativity play - Wojtyła's father, an army officer is shown praying, his mother kissing young Karol on the forehead, Wojtyła celebrating a mass in the mountains, the service is not held by the altar but by a suitcase carrying a chalice.

Much better scenes portray the Pope who secretly gets away from the Vatican for a skiing trip - he is wearing a hooded coat and covers his face with a newspaper - or scenes illustrating the meeting of John Paul II with Lech Wałęsa during the pilgrimage to Poland in 1983, which took long time to win the approval of general Wojciech Jaruzelski. At last, he had agreed for the meeting to be held in a hostel in Chochołowska Valley. The secret police arranged a room stuffed with surveillance devices, but the Pope took Wałęsa to the hall to keep their discussion confidential.

Undoubtedly, documentary footage is the most interesting bit of the movie. I have never seen before photographs of Wojtyła taking a train to get to the Second Vatican Council. Archival materials are much more dramatic than dramatised scenes. No wonder - the movie opens with scenes of the papal funeral - John Paul II is laying in his coffin and has his face covered with a cloth. The finale depicts footage from Easter of 2005, when the ailing Pople was unable to articulate the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing from the famous window.

Paweł Pitera's movie puts two motifs in the spotlight - innovations Wojtyła brought to the world as the Pope and his human traits. Obviously, the first motif is illustrated by scenes shot during his first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 and the famous words: "Let the Holy Spirit come down to change the face of the land, this land ". The narrator of the movie has no doubts that it marked the beginning of the end of communism.

The audience attending the premiere at the Vatican applaused twice - after the scene showing Wojtyła aside Cardinal Ratzinger, and was smug by very personal and humorous motifs, for example footage where conducted by the Pope, a group of Africans sing the Polish version of "Happy Birthday", or the Pontiff watching a rodeo show in Mexico. We also saw the Pope learning Japanese and taking part in a mass in Japan. The Japanese gave him the microphone to hear his voice and the Pope sang with his face nested in his hand.

The movie reveals several unknown facts from the life of the Pope. Cardinal Dziwisz recalls that Wojtyła loved poppy seed cakes brought from Poland and was a great coffee lover. He was also gifted with split attention - while on holidays, he used to read serious books by himself and had someone else reading lighter literature to him.

There are also passages tailored for lovers of mystery themes and exorcisms. The Pope performs exorcisms for a possessed female, but all in vain. Leaving her, he adds, "I will celebrate a holy mass in your name tomorrow", and the woman calms down immediately. Cardinal Dziwisz recalls an episode from August 1963 in Ludźmierz where Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński had been crowning the local statue of the Holy Virgin. When the figure was moved, the sceptre fell down from her hand. It was caught by Cardinal Wojtyła. "Virgin Mary wants to share her power with your," commented Cardinal Macharski.

According to information of a Polish priest from the Vatican City, Italians criticised Pitera's movie after the premiere. They admit it is moving, but argue it brings nothing new. They especially sceptical about scenes focused on the Dziwisz family as according to the Vatican rules, the pope should not be presented with any materials concerning the history of a cardinal's family.

Seating 7,000 people, Paul VI Hall was almost full last evening. Guests of honour included Lech Wałęsa and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the editor-in-chief of "Tygodnik Powszechny", father Adam Boniecki as well as Jolanta Kwaśniewska and Zbigniew Boniek with his spouse. Facing the stage fitted with a huge screen, sat the crowd of cardinals as the screening was attended by bishops and cardinals from the ongoing synod.

When Benedict XVI entered the Hall, the audience stood up to applause and shout "Viva papa!". Some climbed their chairs to take photographs. The Pope sat on the throne and gave a speech after the screening. He expanded his previously penned speech a vista with words testifying to his true emotions.

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza