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.However,there are also important differences between the characters in Death asa Slice of Bread and those from Kutz s earlier films.The unofficial leaderof the striking men is not one of them, but an outsider the localpriest.He was approached by the miners for advice when the Solidarityleader was arrested and he articulates for them the reasons for protest.In a theatrical, highly modulated voice, he talks about the inner free-dom which must not be taken away from the individual by anybody, Polish Martial Law on Screen 147not even by political powers.In comparison with the earthy valuesand simple language of Silesian men in Salt of Black Earth and Pearl inthe Crown, this inner freedom sounds esoteric.The priest s privilegedrole casts doubt on the conviction, articulated in Kutz s earlier films,that miners and Silesians are able to think for themselves.The priest isplayed by Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, best known for his portrayal of MatuszBirkut and Maciek Tomczyk in Wajda s Człowiek z marmuru (Man ofMarble, 1976) and Man of Iron.Such casting on the one hand pointsto the continuity of the Polish workers protests from the period ofStalinism to the present day, but on the other underscores the differ-ence between the miners and the priest he comes from a differentpart of Poland, using a different language, even from a different film,so to speak.Miners in Death as a Slice of Bread are also not as inclusiveas their forebears.The constant presence of priests and other religioussymbols and the images of holy communion, taken by all the strikers,give the impression that there is no place amongst them for anyone of adifferent ideological persuasion, such as Marxists and atheists, featuredin Kutz s earlier films.Also, in contrast to Kutz s earlier heroes, whounderstood that not everybody is physically or mentally fit to strike,they no longer tolerate weaklings.An atmosphere of distrust and sus-picion pervades the strike.In one scene the strike leaders discuss thepossibility of allowing workers from other factories to come to the pitand join them in protest.After some deliberation they reject the idea astoo risky, fearing that agents provocateurs could be amongst them.Suchsuspicion is a measure of the communist authorities success in dividingPolish society prior to and particularly during the period of martial law,including Solidarity, and foretells the atmosphere of suspicion charac-teristic of the postcommunist period.The strike of the Wujek miners comes across as a thoroughly maleaffair.Miners go on strike irrespective of the views of their spousesor mothers.It is expected of the miners that they will sacrifice theirfamilies for the common good.Women in Death as a Slice of Bread aredepicted either as a nuisance, attempting to persuade their men towithdraw from the strike, or as nurses and doctors, serving the fightingmen.For Kutz a man s strength is measured by his ability to suppresshis feelings towards the woman he loves and avoid sexual temptation.A woman s strength, on the other hand, lies in her capacity to servehim well.Such a division of labour, as proposed by Kutz, was ingrainedin the Solidarity ethos, which drew on Catholic ideology, although thisfeature became widely recognised only in the 1990s, with Solidarity spromotion of such anti-women policies as the ban on abortions. 148 European Cinema and IntertextualityDespite Kutz s links with the traditions of the Polish School and religiousart, his film also has much in common with Wionczek s diptych.Themain similarity pertains to a desire to impose on the viewer a defini-tive version of events at Wujek.To use Michel Foucault s terminology,in Death as a Slice of Bread there is no space for counter-memory andpopular memory, namely any voices that offer an alternative or adda nuance to the official, institutionalised version of history (Foucault1975, 1977a: 139 64).Kutz s film does not offer any new insight,despite the fact that by the time it was made many new data had beenunearthed about the Wujek episode.The main vehicle of meaning forKutz, as for Wionczek in the films discussed in the previous section, isthe spoken word.Their films are filled with scenes of characters discuss-ing their opinions in a group of like-minded individuals or when a localleader addresses a collective, only in Wionczek s film this collective isthe Party organisation in Metalpol , while for Kutz it is the Solidarityorganisation in the Wujek mine.The ultimate leaders in their films arepeople who are outside the ordinary political order: in Wionczek s filmthe military commissar; in Kutz s the priest.The dialogue in Death asa Slice of Bread comes across as stylised due to extensive use of grandwords such as freedom , courage and dignity.Rituals and gesturesplay a major role in both films.The decision to make characters use theSilesian dialect paradoxically undermines the film s realism, becausefrom the mouths of well-known actors, such as Janusz Gajos, it soundsartificial.Not unlike Wionczek, Kutz also makes little effort to indi-vidualise characters by any verbal idiosyncrasies or, indeed, any otherparticularities.They are divided solely by their convictions and theirresolve to stand by their views, which make them resemble the heroesof socialist realistic art.Death as a Slice of Bread is washed out of colour; with black and cobaltblue dominating the palette.These are the colours of the coal which sur-rounds the workers and covers their faces.In the context of another filmKutz claimed that the prevalence of black symbolises the miners iden-tification with their place of work; their fight to save the mine is theirstruggle to preserve their livelihood and identity (Kutz 1972).Dark col-ours also signify the metaphorical night of martial law: secrecy, fear anddespair experienced by the striking miners and Poles in general.Unlikein Wionczek s movie, there is no transition from dark colours to a lighterpalette as, for Kutz, martial law is a time of utter hopelessness.The filmgets darker and darker as the narrative progresses and the situation ofthe miners gets direr.Blue and cobalt are from time to time broken bypatches of red, but red signifies only the blood of injured workers. Polish Martial Law on Screen 149In an interview given shortly after its premiere, Kutz stated that hisaim in Death as a Slice of Bread was to show Solidarity as it was duringthe time of martial law: supportive, united and selfless.This Solidarity in his opinion was very different from the Solidarity of the 1990s, deeplydivided and much less concerned with the welfare of ordinary workersthan with its own political advancement
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