Mother of kings = Sons and comrades = Matka krolow

Sons and comrades is a powerful political drama based on the novel by Kazimierz Brandys with screenplay and direction by Janusz Zaorski. Spanning the period 1933-1956, it tells the story of Lucja Krol (Magda Teresa Wojcik), an unemployed widow with four sons, and her struggle to survive almost twenty-five years of economic depression, poverty, occupation of Poland by the Nazis, persecution and political oppression. To Lucja, holding the family together was paramount. For her sons, it was the fight for an independent Poland, free of Nazi Germany control, and a total commitment to the Communist Party. However, at the end of the war with a new regime in Poland, another form of persecution began to take place. Instead of freedom and peace, the 1950s became a time of fear, when friend betrayed friend and former heroes of the independence struggle were jailed as traitors - a time of expedient political trials, torture and even death. It is during this time that Klemens (Boguslaw Linda) Lucja’s son, is inexplicably arrested and accused of being a collaborator. His eventual fate is never revealed to Lucja. A stark film of harsh reality portraying a time of political upheaval and uncertainty in Poland. “Mother of kings” was shelved for five years until 1987 when censorship restrictions became more relaxed in communist Poland. It is an outstanding film with superb direction by Janusz Zaorski and an excellent cast including Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Franciszek Pieczka, Michal Juszczakiewicz, Adam Ferency. (Awards: Poland 1987; Berlin 1988)