Plot Summary

Aftermath (Aftermath (2012)) is a fictionalized movie about actual events. It is in Polish with English subtitles.Franek Kalina (Ireneusz Czop) and Jozek (Maciej Stuhr) Kalina, sons of a poor farmer, are brothers from a small village in central Poland. Franek immigrated to the United States in the 80s, and cut all ties with his family. Only when Jozeks wife Jola arrives in the US, without explanation, does Franek finally return to his homeland. (from movie website)The film starts with Franek's flight into Warsaw. He takes a taxi to the train. He tells the taxi driver that Poles have a hard time in America. Carrying only a duffle bag, he just catches the train, then the bus to his rural home. Its just after sunset.Franek walks on a road toward the farmhouse, but hears noises that seem to follow him in the woods along the road. He puts his bag down and goes into the woods to see what it is, but cannot find anything. Franek hits his head on a low branch, knocking him out for a while. He wakes up to find his bag gone, along with his two cartons of cigarettes and clothes. The police chief, Sgt. Nowak, (Zbigniew Zamachowski) stops by to give him a ride to the house, but is not much help.Franek finds the farmhouse pretty much dark and locked. His brother Jozek comes out of the house carrying an ax. When he sees who it is, they embrace. Once in the farmhouse, Franek notices that little has changed since he left 20 years ago. They make small talk, then Franek asks why his wife Jola and the kids left, insinuating that he must have abused them. Jozek reacts angrily, saying he doesn't know why. He then turns the tables, accusing him of leaving the family in the lurch when Jozek was just a kid and his father disabled. Franek says that is ancient history, but then a rock is thrown into the kitchen window to prove him wrong.The next day, the brothers go to the cemetery by the church to visit their parents graves, Stanislaw and Jadwiga Kalinas. Franek, who left Poland as an oppressive Communist regime was coming to power, did not attend the funerals of his parents because he was afraid the authorities would take his passport and he would not be allowed to go back to his family in America and maybe arrested. Jozek criticizes Franek again for his non-attendance, saying again he believes his parents knew and would have disapproved.On the way out of the graveyard, the new local priest Fr. Pawlek (Andrzej Mastalerz) stops Jozek, who tells the priest, "I'm taking them all this week." Fr. Pawlek retorts, "This isn't over yet. If God won't set things right, the parish will. Come to your senses!" Franek lights a votive candle and places it on the headstone of his parents.Franek goes to a local store to get a newspaper, meeting neighbors Sudecki (Ryszard Ronczewski) and his two sons. After some small talk, the older man tells Franek he should take his brother Jozek to America, like brothers do. Franek replies that Jozek does not want to go and that America is a young man's land. The Sudecki brothers reinforce their belief that Jozek needs to leave and be with his wife and children.Sgt. Novak spots Franek and offers to get his police report. Franek asks him if his brother is liked in town, to which Novak says, "Have you been drunk outside the store today?" The older priest, the Rector, (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) arrives and Novak leaves. A younger officer shows Franek a complaint against Jozek for damaging the old tannery road. Some people wanted to hang Jozek, the officer said, but Novak prevented them from doing it.Franek walks back home and a community nurse, Justyna, (Zuzana Fialová) stops to pick him up. She is the granddaughter of Sudecki. She knows Jola and the kids from the clinic and wonders how they are doing in Chicago. She also denies knowing why Jola left. Franek asks her to drive him by the old tannery road, where it appears that many large paving stones had been removed from the low spot in front of the tannery. He tries to go into the tannery itself, but the fence is locked and is overgrown with vegetation.Back on the farm, Franek helps his brother shred straw. He mentions to Jozek that he needs to go to Gurowka, the nearest large town, to get replacement clothes because of his stolen duffle. Jozek says he needs to go to town too and would go with him. Franek makes a couple of attempts at asking why he took the paving stones, but Jozek dodges them. Franek tells his brother that he works on demolition crews, often the removal of asbestos in Chicago, complaining that the Jews have the construction market cornered. He said the Jews hire others to do the dirty work, especially the asbestos because it can cause cancer. Jozek criticizes Franek again about not being there for their parents funeral, blaming him for their death. Jozek then walks off in a huff.The next day, the brothers go to the bank, where Jozek is told his application for a loan has been denied because of irregularities in the title to the land. The bank had made loans before, but won't now. The Kalinas had gotten the land in the Agrarian Reform after the war, but the municipal office where the records were was closed. Franek went to check the hours they were open while Jozek went to a bar for a drink. By the time Franek gets to the bar, four lumberjacks had accosted Jozek and beaten him up, leaving the bar a bloody mess. The barmaid was tending Jozek in the alley in the rear.The brothers take the bus back to their village and Jozek offers to show him why he took the paving stones. They walk to a wheat field toward the rear of their 15 acre field along the woods, where Jozek had erected dozens of Jewish headstones like a cemetery. He denied knowing why he had done it, telling Franek it seemed like the right thing to do. He tells him that the seldom-used tannery road was put into use after a flood washed out the main road, exposing the headstones. Jozek removed them from the road base, angering the neighbors. Others he admitted to buying at up to 300 zloty each. The total monuments altogether, Franek calculated to be worth about 70,000 zloty. Jozek continued, saying he taught himself Hebrew so that he could read the headstones, though he acknowledged people in the village thought he was nuts. Jozek said his wife Jola felt the same as the neighbors, but he felt it was very wrong of the Germans to use the Jewish headstone to pave the road as well as other purposes. When the neighbors wanted to cover up the road to make it smoother, Jozek said, "No way! I'm taking the stones."Jozek told Franek he had found out that some of the stones had been used at the church and he had talked to the older Rector, who gave him permission to remove them when the time is right. Franek says he fears it will end in tears and asks why he has to do it. Jozek told him, "Because there is no one else to look after them."Franek washes his clothes in a washbowl, then goes back to the village store. While he is there, the lumberjacks come looking for Jozek Kalinas place. The Sudecki sons were there, but did not tell where it was, suggesting somewhere else. Franek notices and thanks them. Franek goes to the rectory to talk to the Rector, who has known the Kalinas family for the last 30 years. The Rector acknowledges he has given Jozek permission, but also knows of the many who are upset. He was going to give a sermon, but hoped it would blow over, that there would be a good time to do it. Franek says he doesn't think there will ever be a good time to remove the stones.After leaving the soon-to-retire Rector, the one to be in charge soon, Fr. Pawlek, stops Franek, saying that any removal of the stones must be done peacefully, so that the media will not be snooping around, "you know what I mean." Franek denies knowing what he means, so Fr. Pawlek asks him to talk to the congregation and he'd find out. "They're my flock now, including the [lumberjacks] from the sawmill."After he gets back to the farm, Franek asks how to get to Gurowka on Sunday when the bus isn't running. Jozek tells him that the only way is by farm tractor. Franek tells Jozek that he worked out a plan with the Rector to remove the church stones, but needs Jozek to be somewhere else when it happens. Jozek refuses to go along, saying that would be chickening out. Franek drives the tractor into town, but is followed by an aqua 72 Ford Granada. Franek stops the tractor and scares them off, then continues.Once in town, Franek gets his clothes, then sees Justyna from the clinic. He asks her about procedures when they need a priest for last rites for the very sick, under various circumstances. Franek takes his new clothes and goes home, but again the Ford Granada buzzes him, causing him to lose his clothes, which are promptly run over by the bus. The Granada gets away.Back home, Franek asks Jozek about the Granada, but Jozek doesn't know much about cars. He's more concerned with the wheat harvester he has rented to reap his wheat crop at 4am the next morning. However, in the middle of the night, the two brothers take the tractor and a rented trailer to the church, call in an emergency for the new priest and wait for him to leave. When he does, they go into the churchyard and begin gathering the Jewish headstones being used around the well. However, a crowd of angry parishioners waits for them at the gate with pitchforks. One of the crowd accuses the brothers of being Jews who are stealing church property, but the Rector awakens and comes out to defend the Kalinas brothers, telling them he had personally given permission and paid for the rental of the trailer. He went on to say that the stones had been placed there unlawfully and it was time they went back to where they belong. The Rector tells the mob that the Kalinas are Polish and good Christians too. He then tells Sudecki and his son they will fry in hell because they no longer came to church. One in the mob cried out that the Jews killed Our Lord, and Jozek was standing up for the Jews. The Rector told them he was in charge and they should go home or come into the church to pray. Many apparently believed the new priest, Fr. Pawlek, that the Rector had been bamboozled and was out of his mind. The crowd makes a path for the tractor and the brothers take the headstones from the church to their field to put up with the others. After setting the new stones, the sleepy brothers think they hear something in the woods, especially when Franek finds some of his empty cigarette cases.They get little sleep, as the wheat harvester is supposed to be coming at 4am; it doesn't arrive. They bike off to the village to find out why, but the belligerent manager tells them it had broken down. They do not believe him because it isn't in the shop. The brothers tell him that they had seen the harvester in another field on their way into the village. The manager tells them he is in charge and can do what he believes is right. Later, when the brother accost the machine operator, he tells the bothers he goes where he is told. The landowner orders them off his property and not to bother the operator.Jozek heads back to his Jewish cemetery in the wheat field while Franek heads into the village to check into the discrepancy with the land title. After looking and comparing documents, Franek learns that his dad got title to their farm after the war, but he didn't own it before the war. Before the war, it belonged to a Jewish farmer, Abraham Wimelman. The land actually owned before the war by Stanislaw Kalinas was in a marsh near a bend in the river. They learn that there were 26 farms that had new owners after the war, all previously owned by Jewish farmers who disappeared, including all of the Kalinas' immediate neighbors. Sudecki lives on land owned by Shalom Prinek. Malinowski lives on land previously owned by Izaac Goldberg. Sgt Novak's land was previously owned by Simon Hirschbaum. The headstones of these previous owners are in Jozeks makeshift cemetery. The clerk noted that these farmers had taken land owned by murdered Jews, all of them. Their title was granted after the war by the Agrarian Reform. When Franek asked why, the clerk countered,"What do you expect? The Germans couldn't take it with them and after the war, there was no one left to claim the farms."Franek rides his bike home and almost gets run over by the Ford Granada. Upon arrival at the Kalinas home, he finds that anti-Semitic graffiti had been spray painted all over the house and barns, and the family dog had been killed, his head cut with a scythe. Jozek comes back, sees the damage, and they bury the dog.Franek helps his brother sharpen the tractor mower to cut down the wheat, old style, having given up on the harvester coming by anytime soon. While preparing the mower, he tells Jozek about how their father got the land they have now. The present farm does belong to them, but not to their grandfather, who owned two lots over by the river bend. Jozek thought their land had belonged to Koscielski, who had fled to America, like Franek. Franek replied that before the war, only the land by the river bend was theirs, but this land belonged to Jewish farmers. Franek told Jozek that after the Germans killed the Jews, our people took their homes and land. All the reform did was round everything off so everyone got about 5 hectares (abt. 15 acres). There were 26 families and about 100 people. Franek asked Jozek if he understood. The neighbors were scared heirs would find out about it and want their land back. In the old days, Franek said, the farmers would send their dogs after the Jews, but now the law's on their side and there are documents in the archive to prove it. Since they were small landowners the reform wouldn't have touched them, he said. Under communism, people would have been too scared to reclaim the land; now, the Jews don't know that their families once lived here: that's why the people don't take kindly to Jozek.They take the mower and start cutting the wheat down. Franek comments that it is good to work for yourself, and not some "ass" in the city.Later, they go to their grandfather's land by the river bend. They talk about who among their neighbors might remember the occupation. One was an old lady, Old Palka, probably now around 100 and in a nursing home. Malinowski, (Robert Rogalski) now about 90, and Sudecki, who was around 80. The Malinowskis are quiet and pretty private. Old Palka is probably crazy by now. Franek comments that "People in America keep saying the Poles denounced Jews to the Germans, Jews in particular." They find the fireplace and stone remains of what must have been a fire.Franek goes home after a long day, washing his shirt again, then going to sleep. But it wasn't long and the brothers were awakened by light in the window that turns out to be their wheat crop set on fire. They try to put it out, but it is too big. The fire department comes and could have put it out, but claims it is too late and they are making sure nobody else's crops are burnt. Jozek is frantic because his Jewish headstones are in the field and the firemen won't help. Jozek becomes belligerent and takes a swing at the reluctant fire chief and the brothers are both beaten and arrested. Both spent the night in jail.The Kalinas are in jail, beaten, their home vandalized and their pet killed. The Rector comes from the church and gets them released, taking them to the rectory to get cleaned up. The brothers tell the story of the land thefts to the Rector, who is shocked, as nothing was ever written down about it, probably since the Police chief is one of the landowners involved. Franek is confused, because much smaller crimes against the Jews were investigated, but this one was never even recorded. They certainly would have investigated 26 families and 100 people killed, especially with witnesses around. Justyna arrives from the clinic to help, but instead Franek prevails upon her to drive them to visit her grandfather.They first see Mrs. Palka, (Robert Rogalski) now a patient at the clinic. She remembers Franek after he reminds her that, as a child, he stole two rabbits from her because he didn't want them to be killed and eaten. Mrs. Palka remembers Abraham, a handsome young man, whom many of the Polish girls liked. [Cut to Jozek in the field cleaning off Abraham's headstone.] She said the Germans came and made the Jews disappear at the beginning of the war, around 1941. She did not know what happened or how, just that they were gone. She mentioned the Perlman boy, but was coy about what happened to him. It appears that her family might have hidden him for a while, but "The Germans got him too," she said, "People talk, you don't even know how mean people are. They'll say anything as long as it suits them. Saying I sold moonshine and all. Maybe I did and maybe I didn't. They can't prove it, but I never sold out any Jews, like the others."Then the nurse drove Franek to see her grandfather, old Suds Sudecki, and his sons. They had been in town when Franek first arrived and in the crowd at the church when they were removing the headstones from the church well. Sudecki is pretty cagy, and doesn't engage at first, but does admit that he wasn't born at their present farm, but was born over by the river, just like their dad, Stanislaw. He then tells Franek if he wants to know anything, he should ask around his own house. Sud's son and grandson see he is upset and force the Kalinas to leave.Franek leaves to their nearby field, finding Jozek continuing to work on removing the soot from the headstones caused by the fire. Franek tells him what he learned from old Palka and the Rector, that there were no records of deportations. He mentions the odd thing that Sudecki had told him, if he wants to know more, to ask around their own house. They talk about going to their old house by the river, thinking maybe the Jews are still there.Spoiler textIn the middle of the night they go to the old house and start digging.[The Rector is shown having a heart attack in the rectory, following the fire and the unreported land thefts.]At first the brothers dig up watery soil, but then start digging up skulls and other human bones. They dig all night. In the morning they are trying to figure out what to do next when an old woman comes out of the woods. She says, "Found them at last, poor souls. Why don't you bury them in the graveyard you made?" They talk to her, and she tells them that she lives in the woods and has all these years. She was there, along with many others, when the Jews were rounded up, and herded into the Kalinas cottage, then set it on fire, laughing and drinking vodka. They yelled, "That's for Jesus on the cross!" Franek asked if they were soldiers. The old woman said the Germans came the first couple of days, talked to Malinowski, then left. "Weren't no Germans hereabouts," she said,"it was the whole village. Was Malinowski who set the fire himself, along with another fellow." She said she cried out for them to let them go, but they called her a bitch and threatened to throw her into the fire too. She decided she wanted to live and stopped. She apparently has lived in the forest ever since.Franek and Jozek march over to the Malinowski home and find the aqua Ford Grenada in a shed. The 90-year-old comes out to talk to them. They tell him they have dug up the bones of the murdered Jews and accuse him of lighting the fire. He blows them off. The Kalinas push, asking if it wasn't him, who was it? Jozek tells him that nobody has said anything for 60 years and that everybody deserves a proper burial: "They may not be Christian, but they got a right to a grave." Malinowski echoes Franek's earlier sentiment that the dead don't care where they lie. Jozek retorts, that he is wrong because "their sons care."Franek accuses Malinowski again. He responds that the Krauts did all kinds of things. Jozek accused Malinowski of rounding up the Jews and taking them to the Kalinas house and burning them. When Malinowski said that was more than one person could do, Jozek said the whole village helped him. They reminded him that he's 90 and might die soon and that confession is good for the soul. Malinowski gets upset even more when accused of murdering his neighbors, saying saying he didn't kill neighbors. Then he said the fire was started on two sides of the cottage and it was their father on the other side. He stares angrily at them, telling them to bury them back and let them lie. Jozek almost loses it, not wanting to believe his father helped start the fire and Franek has to hold him back. Then Malinowski tells the brothers their dad had a crush on a Jewish girl Halszka Mintz. Stanislaw chased her, grabbed her hair, and smashed her head on the ground, repeatedly. He later cut her head off and kicked it along the roadside, all because she wouldn't have sex with him. Malinowski glares at the brothers, then asks, "Is that what you want to tell people?" Disgusted, they leave.On the way home, Franz finds his duffle bag, along with a couple of the 20 cigarette packs he had originally. He cleans his clothes again. They think about what they have learned, then come together to discuss it. Franek suggests they bury the bones in the new cemetery plot in the burnt wheat field. Jozek is getting cold feet, now concerned that it will all come out to the authorities, the papers, and the whole country. Franek agrees, saying he knows the "Chicago Jews will not let it go and for 20 generations, people will remember our village, Malinowski and our father. That's their right and our hope. Maybe the likes of our father won't be seen again." Jozek disagrees and wants to put the bones back where they found them and forget it, saying nobody will know. Franek said that "I know this world is a lousy shithole and we can't make it one bit better, but, you know what? We won't make it any worse."Jozek throws a fit, denying that Franek is his brother. He tells Franek he renounced him when he left 20 years ago. "Father cursed you and nobody even spoke your name all these years. Mother cried her eyes out for you in secret, scared to admit it. My brother died in 1980. Get out of my house!" Franek stares at him as he says,"I'm your brother!" but Jozek hits him and a full-blown knock-down fight ensues. Franek gets his stuff and leaves for the bus.At the bus stop, Franek sees anti-Jewish graffiti and he kicks out the panel, just as the bus stops to pick him up. He rides for a while, then a truck passes the bus and blocks the road ahead. It is driven by Justyna, the nurse, who wants Franek to come with her. Franek asks, "Josek?" She nods. They drive back to the Kalinas farm to find a crowd of people and the police. As Franek walks through the crowd, they part and let him through to the barn. Jozek was found beaten, stabbed, and then nailed high on the inside of the barn door, his arms outstretched. His wrists and feet were held by wooden cleats. Someone in the crowd yelled that it was a suicide "just like Judas."The final scene unfolds years later. Franek is in a nice suit and walks from the woods to the wheat field, now a Jewish cemetery. A tour bus is there and a Jewish prayer service is going on. There is a monument commemorating the tragedy. Franek watches solemnly, then reaches into his pocket, retrieving a votive candle. He lights it and places it on top of one of the Jewish headstones.The end.