Our God’s Brother

Brat naszego Boga, 1997, 123 min.

Our God's Brother (1997)

Awards

1999
Teheran International Film Festival
Best Screenplay Award for Mario Di Nardo;
Best Screenplay Award for Krzysztof Zanussi

Production

Director Krzysztof Zanussi
Screenplay Mario di Nardo, Krzysztof Zanussi
Dialogs Karol Wojtyla
Cinematography Ryszard Lenczewski
Music Wojciech Kilar
Art Direction Ewa BraunGrzegorz Piątkowski
Producer(s) Giacomo Pezzali, Georg Stingl, Krzysztof Zanussi

Cast

Brother Albert / Adam Chmielewski Scott Wilson
Maksymilian Gierymski Christoph Waltz
The Stranger Wojciech Pszoniak
Cameldolite Monk Riccardo Cucciolla
Helena Modjewsk Grazyna Szapolowska
Stanislaw Witkiewicz Andrei Roudenski
Jerzy Maciaj Orlos
Hubert Piotr Adamczyk
Antoni Jerzy Nowak
The Monk Marek Probosz
Story
In the late forties Karol Wojtyla, as a young priest, wrote a play about Adam Chmielowski (1845-1916), a talented and widely recognized Cracowian painter, friend of such prominent artists as Wyczolkowski, Gierymski, Witkiewicz and Modrzejewska, who in the midst of his artistic career at the age of 42, abandoned painting and followed his calling into the service of God. As Brother Albert he founded the Albertine Order in Cracow and devoted his life to serving the poor and the homeless.

In 1983 Karol Wojtyla, then Pope John Paul II, beatified Brother Albert in Cracow and six years later canonized him in Rome.

The play, a philosophical, meditative and poetic study of the emergence of a calling, was filmed by Krzysztof Zanussi and released in 1997 under the title Our God’ Brother.