Jerzy Grotowski, a leading figure of the theatrical avant garde in the 20th century, invited a film crew to travel with him to the small village of Nienadówka, Poland in 1980. It was there that he, his mother, and his... more » brother had been hidden by a peasant family during the Nazi occupation. Grotowski returns for the first time since the war, hoping to find the people and places, the images and the sounds of his intensely lived childhood memories that are indelibly linked to his art.
Grotowski's presence is electric . . . he searches for something, and finds it--all in front of the camera's eye. He leads the camera to all the places where he had deeply penetrating experiences. Later, in his aunt's apartment in the city of Rzeszów, he speaks directly to us about the foundations for his work. As Grotowski leans toward the camera, he draws us in and explains that we all must find what we have lost our original joy, or what he so eloquently calls "the movement within the repose."« less