Bezdech (2013) – a film by Andrzej Bart | PIOTR GZOWSKI

A retired Japanese couple happened to be in Jerusalem just prior to Easter. She was a sweet old lady who spent most of her adult as a housewife, tending to her husband, raising her children, and generally running the affairs of the home. He on the other hand was a crotchety self-centered old coot, unappreciative of his wife, tight with money, who disliked travelling. He felt like he had been badgered into taking the trip by his wife who insisted that now that their children had gone out on their own, that the two of them could afford it, that they should take advantage and travel and see the world while they were of an age when they were still mobile. But, during the entire trip all the husband did was constantly complain about the weather, about the accommodations, about the food, and about the people. Wherever they visited, he nit-picked and blamed his wife for his misery, especially while they were in Jerusalem where it was hot and dry.

On a scorching Friday afternoon, as they headed back to the hotel, the old couple happened to walk by one of the Christian shrines where a small Good Friday service was being held. The old woman found it interesting. The old man scoffed at it and trudged off pulling his wife in tow. A block away from the hotel, he suddenly seized his chest, stumbled, and fell to the ground dead. When the emergency medical personnel arrived, the best they could offer after officially pronouncing him dead was to offer transport of the body and the old woman to the Jerusalem morgue.

At the morgue, although visible shaken, the old lady eagerly inquired what arrangements could be made for her deceased husband. The attending mortician mentioned that there several options: the body could prepared for transport back to Japan which involved her remaining in Israel for an extra seven to ten days; the body could be interred in Jerusalem; or, the easiest solution, was to cremate her husband in Jerusalem for easy transport of the ashes back to Japan. The old woman stated that her husband’s specific orders were that should he die, he was to be cremated only in Japan, nowhere else, so that his ashes could be displayed immediately at the family home. Therefore, returning to Japan with the body was the only option. Furthermore, the old woman was most insistence that she and her husband’s body had to be gone before Easter. The mortician found it a rare request and explained to her that making such arrangements, which involved preparing the remains, expediting the permits for transport, etc., with such a limited amount of time, was possible but the costs would be astronomical.

“How much?” she asked. He told her that it could be as much as 40,000 US dollars.

“Do it!” she insisted. “Money doesn’t matter, as long as we are out of here before Easter!” Not wishing to be contrary, he agreed to start the process for her. But his curiosity got the better of him and he turned to the old woman and said, “Madame, respectfully, I wonder if you can tell me - This process that you ask for is very expensive. You could save yourself a considerable amount of money by just waiting a bit. Why are you so insistent on leaving Jerusalem with your husband’s body before Easter?”

The old woman looked up at the man, politely smiled and said, “Well, the truth is – earlier today when we passed the Christian shrine, I overhead the story of a man who died in Jerusalem and then arose from the dead-on Easter… and quite frankly… I do not want to take that chance.”

No one, except someone sentenced to execution, and perhaps comedian Steven Wright who claims that his birth certificate has an expiration date, knows the exact day that Death will arrive. Men, however, do begin to confront their own mortality once they cross their fiftieth birthday. Prior to that, during the invulnerable twenties and thirties, then through the decade of good and bad decisions of the forties, the end seems distant. At the semicentenary threshold, however, men begin to take stock and evaluate their lives. The onset of sixty reminds them that the time of significant achievement is about to expire. And as they witness the forest of their friends thinning around them during the seventies, their own inevitable demise becomes an unwelcomed thought. The eighties and beyond seem to be spent anticipating the end of the ride.

What then of the man who actually knows that he is soon going to die? Does he like Nicholas Cage’s character in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas cash in his life savings and decide to drink himself to death; or like Edmond O’Brien’s hero in the 1950 film D.O.A, does he spend the story trying to hunt down the person who has just poisoned him? Author-director-screenwriter Andrzej Bart provides a third perspective.

In his 2013 film Bezdech (Apnea)- based on his novel Breathless, film director Bart introduces Jerzy (portrayed by Boguslaw Linda), an internationally renowned Polish director who for vague reasons expatriated himself from Poland and relocated into a successful career in Hollywood. Afflicted with a terminal disease, he returns to Poland hoping, that before he dies, he can reestablish contact with his former friends (Krzystof Stoinski, Andrzej Sewerin), lovers (Małgorzata Potocka, Katarzyna Figura), his father (Jerzy Trela), a son that he did not know existed (Dawid Ogrodnik), and to settle a bitter score with a former adversary (Jerzy Stuhr). All his attempts backfire – his friends seem impervious to his death, his father slips in and out of an ironic, seemingly conscious dementia, and Jerzy’s son wants nothing to do with him. Even Jerzy’s revenge against his adversary dilutes into gross disappointment. Ultimately, Jerzy is dying but no one really cares.

Bezdech is an abstract work. And Bart, predominantly a novelist and a documentary filmmaker, blends the styles of both media to spin out the final segments of the protagonist’s life. For example - A scene takes place. Suddenly, the very same scene appears on a television monitor. As the camera pulls back, Jerzy, the director, and a film crew review the clip as if it were just shot. In another, segment Jerzy watches a young woman in blue jeans dancing. As she dances her costume changes back and forth between her street clothes and a ballerina’s costume. At his adversary’s apartment, the background of the host’s quarters change from a luxurious apartment to a hovel stacked with hoarded boxes. - The perspective consistently changes, and consequently, the audience’s view is open to interpretation.

However, the most striking element of the film is the introductions of Dzidek, a barfly who without invitation aggressively pitches a film script to Jerzy who has just arrived to enjoy a solitary drink. The character appears twice, in the middle and at the end, and the nightmarish monologue he rabidly blurts out reveals the essence of the story. Both scenes are very short, however, the demonic performance by actor Arkadiusz Jakubik is one of the most remarkable in the film.

When it was released in 2013 for Polish Television, and then later screened at the Gdynia Film Festival, Bezdech was not enthusiastically received. On a scale of ten, it hovered around the mid-point. It appealed mostly to a male audience of forty-five years plus. Nevertheless, it is an impressive film. Not only is it a tale about not being able to reconcile all the issues of one’s life, but also a grim reminder that once one leaves home for a long time and then returns, what one finds upon return is only nostalgia for something that no longer exists. For males who have passed the midpoint of their lives, it is a tap on the shoulder from a conductor who wakes them to remind them that they are near the final destination. As for myself, if am awakened near that terminal, I may just opt to hop off the train and onto a plane for Israel, and when I arrive in Jerusalem, to find that sweet old Japanese lady and treat her very well. And if I am destined to drop dead in the heat of the Jerusalem sun on Good Friday, I will try to convince her beforehand to stay until after Easter. I do not really take much stock in miracles – but you never know – and I am willing to take the chance.

As always, this is only my opinion. Bezdech is available on You Tube, although the sound quality in not the best. Therefore, I recommend that you find a copy either through Amazon or Netflix Europe, see the film and judge for yourself.