When the Halny rises in the High Tatras in the south of Poland, the number of emergency calls spikes. The Halny is a wind that makes people nervous, stresses them and intensifies their crises. In his “documentary thriller”, Michał Bielawski tells the story of a force of nature and of the people who have to live with the wind.
Nothing is harder to calculate than the weather, because it has a different effect on every organism and every soul. Bielawski approaches his weather report from the two endpoints of the axis of events: In impressive panoramic shots, he shows how the Halny is created by thick clouds rolling down from the mountains into the narrow valleys. He also shows how the people have adapted to the upheavals and occasional bigger or smaller natural disasters. A particularly impressive protagonist even seems to identify with this unique regional world: Teresa hugs the trees; she wants to have a spot of her own in the protected forest. She becomes the embodiment of a landscape of which Michał Bielawski, with his images and a strong, atmospheric soundtrack, has created almost a character study.
Bert Rebhandl
Awarded with the MDR Film Prize.
