Writer and director: Agnieszka Zwiefka
Agnieszka Zwiefka’s Silent Trees is both a documentary on the problems faced by immigrants and a harrowing coming of age drama.
In 2021, autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko encourages migrants to use Belarus as a crossing point to enter the European Union. Poland’s right-wing government, regarding the development as an effort to destabilise the EU, hardens its border controls thereby hindering migrants crossing the border.
An Iraqi Kurdish family comprising: teenager Runa, her four younger brothers (Ayham, Mizgeen, Ghareeb, and Mateen), and their father, Baravan fleeing Belarus to Poland encounter hostility even before they have cleared the border between the two countries, abandoned by people traffickers and left to the mercy of a violent mob opposing their entry. The mother – pregnant with the family’s sixth child- eventually succumbs to hypothermia caught at the frigid border. As the father is an illiterate barber (and, it turns out, not a very good one) and the male siblings too young and prone to adolescent displays of boredom-induced rage, the burden of navigating through the bureaucratic minefield for claiming asylum falls upon the teenage daughter, Runa.
A social worker sums up Baravan by saying the mother was the brain of the family and he is simply a male; it is not a compliment. With a bemused, out of his depth personality, Baravan can offer only negative incentives to his sons, pointing out that unless they make an effort in school they will end up like him- an illiterate, unemployed liability.
Baravan’s legal advocate is amazed he is so calm facing a deportation tribunal, meanwhile the viewer is shouting at the screen the reason is that he has dumped all responsibility on his daughter, Runa. Half the documentary passes before Runa is shown undertaking an age-appropriate activity – pinning up a Billie Eilish poster. Runa cooks and cleans for the family, learns English to facilitate learning Polish, helps her father cope with the immigration bureaucracy and job interviews and with saint-like forbearance does not murder her hyperactive siblings. Being more mature than her age Runa treats a diagnosis of glaucoma as just one more problem on the list.
Silent Trees inadvertently appeals to both viewers who are sympathetic toward immigrants and those who oppose immigration. Runa would be an asset to any community; if she had captained The Titanic it would have reached safe harbour. It is, however, hard to see how her siblings and especially her father can be regarded as productive members of society.
Director Agnieszka Zwiefka takes an even-handed approach to reflecting issues arising from immigration. The impact of mass immigration upon Polish social services is apparent in the number of rough sleepers gathered in a railway station. Yet the authorities treat Runa’s glaucoma promptly.
Boredom is a problem facing immigrants and its depiction in the documentary risks becoming tedious for the viewer. Director Agnieszka Zwiefka employs a range of imaginative techniques to hold the attention. Hand-held mobile phone footage helps capture the disorientation and chaos experienced by the family as they struggle to pass the border in the opening scene. Rather than employ a narrator Zwiefka communicates real-life events – the invasion of Ukraine- to the family and viewers by way of news reports or text messages.
The wood through which the family passes on their journey becomes a silent eerie motif as Runa considers her options and looks to the future. Rough black and white animation (by Łódź-based studio Yellow Tapir Films) is employed to give some indication of Runa’s angry internal response to outside events- a silent scream that takes on a life force and echoes through the community.
Silent Trees gives a fair-minded treatment of the complexity of immigration and introduces the viewer to an admirable real-life heroine.
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2025 takes place in venues across London and the UK 6 March to 25 April. For further information and tickets:https://kinoteka.org.uk/
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Real-life heroine
