MATKA / POLKA by Joanna Suchomska
When faced with a further tightening of already restrictive access to abortion, Polish women share intimate stories to reclaim control of their identity.
Matka Polka, a myth and a social construct, emerged in the 19th century during a time of political instability in Poland. A representation of the image of traditional Polish mothers largely shaped by their duty towards their family and the country. It imagines women to be the protectors of the nation through their performance within the private realm of female gender identity. To embody the values of Matka Polka, the personal needs of the women are ill-considered compared to the needs of the nation. They are expected to fulfil their responsibilities within the private sphere, such as the task of being a mother while being under continuous surveillance from the masculine public sphere. This puts them in a vulnerable position where they are being stigmatised for failing to depict the values embodied by Matka Polka. These failings are generally defined by their identity as single mothers, for choosing to get a divorce, and for choosing to get an abortion, which is the right that Polish women have once again been fighting for through mass protest.
The Law and Justice Party (PiS) took power in 2015 and has been supporting the view that the Catholic Church is intertwined with the idea of Polishness. Therefore, being Polish has meant embracing the values of the Church. Since the PiS has been in power, there have been statements made by its members that illustrate their negligence towards the needs of Polish women in the name of defending traditional Roman Catholic values. In doing so, imposing the myth of Matka Polka. In 2016, the Law and Justice Chairman, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said, “We will strive to ensure that even cases of very difficult pregnancies, when the child is certain to die, very deformed, still end up in birth, so the child can be baptised, buried, have a name.” This is one of the many cases where their lack of care for women’s physical and emotional needs was openly expressed. If it is not through words, it is through their actions.
Poland’s reproductive policy that went into effect in 1993 allows women to undergo an abortion under three circumstances; foetal impairment, in the case of incest or rape, and when the pregnancy is threatening the wom- en’s health. However, in October 2020, the constitutional court ruled that abortion would be illegal even in the case of severe abnormalities, which unsurprisingly outraged the nation. Due to the scale on which this protest had taken place, the government delayed the implementation of the ruling of the tribunal. Within this period of uncertainty, medical professionals were faced with confusion which led to their reluctance to perform abortions. This ruling has alarmed not only women who are currently waiting for test results to determine the health of their foetus but also women who aren’t even pregnant as they are concerned about their future in the country. However, as of January 2021, the government has announced that this law will come into effect imminently, which led to other nationwide protests.
Joanna Suchomska produced and directed a documentary titled, ‘MATKA / POLKA’ to challenge this traditional image of Polish women. “I decided to call it that because, in the title, I split the two words ‘Matka’ and ‘Polka’ with ‘/’ to signal that these two social roles are not necessarily a single uniform identity. That is also the reason why I didn’t translate this title so that the Polish-speaking audiences will make sense of it immediately”, Joanna explains as we discuss her upcoming documentary over Zoom.
While the protest was triggered by anger, this documentary was triggered by a moment of reflection of Joanna’s own privilege when faced with similar circumstances. She opens up, “I always felt strongly about the issue of women’s limited access to healthcare such as emergency contraception in my home country. Even when I am living abroad, I am still Polish and it still affects me in a way. If it doesn’t affect me personally, it is going to affect my best friend. If it doesn’t affect my best friend, it is going to affect my cousin. That is when I realised how privileged I was living elsewhere, which made me want to speak to the women about what happens and gain a deeper understanding of the experience.”
In challenging the myth of Matka Polka, this documentary explores the identity of Polish women on their own terms. Problematically, women have always been left out of the discourse surrounding their bodies. This documentary serves to insert them back into the debate, but this time not as the subject talked about but as those who are actively constructing the narrative. It brings emotions to a discourse that has always been rather political. It breaks the taboo of talking about abortions. Specifically, intimate stories about the conversations these women have with their sexual partners and the kind of conversation they would have in the doctor’s office. She illustrates, “I like to think of it as eavesdropping, but consensual eavesdropping. Overhearing the conversations that usually happen behind closed doors, from a trusted woman to another trusted woman.” A lot of the scenes were shot in a safe and private space of someone’s home (not connected to any of the contributors) to represent the private and taboo nature of the subjects talked about. It illustrates these stories as subjects that are being kept away from the public sphere while at the same time, putting them on the centre stage. Actresses’ portrayals allow these stories to be widely heard by the public in the safest manner possible for the women who were brave enough to share them.
The enthusiasm that these women have to share their stories speaks volumes about how outraged they are about the system. Although, however eager they are to share their stories, social prejudice is something they still can’t look past. With the sensitive and private nature of the stories shared, building trust is key. “I had to assure the contributors that whatever they shared would stay between us. Anonymity is one way to grant them that safety”, Joanna explains. To grant them anonymity, a collective heroine portrayed by actresses is created out of a collection of very unfiltered, raw, and honest stories that these women have shared, which are then connected by emotions that bind their experiences. It is important to highlight the emotionality and experiences of these women, to let them confess out loud things that have been kept away from their mouths. To achieve this, Joanna constructs visuals that conjure up the feeling of radical empathy from the audience. She wants to position the audience in the shoes of the women speaking and to let them focus only on their emotions. In crafting these visuals, Karolina Monwid-Olechnowicz, the Director of Photography, illustrates, “We decided to make the visual layer of the film ‘flow’ along with the words we hear in the voiceover. The picture is like a boat on a calm sea, on which the difficult story of our collective character is swaying, and so I try to build the mood through thoughtful framing, as well as subdued camera movement, one that is barely noticeable through the film. The picture is there in support of words, it does not impose itself, it doesn’t try to get ahead, does not ride the sea waves, and the minimalist colour palette does not distract the viewers.”
In focusing on the emotionality of such intimate experiences, the documentary challenges the myth of Matka Polka and allows the contributors to reclaim control to decide who they want to be as Polish women.
Cast and Crew
Joana Suchomska - Producer / Director
Alicja Rymarowicz - Editor
Karolina Monwid-Olechnowicz — Director of Photography
Monika Dróżdż — Assistant Director of Photography
Grzegorz Łapiński — Score Composer
Aleksander Durowicz — Sound Designer, Sound Mixing
Ada Moycho — Art Director
Agata Matusz — BTS Photographer
Martyna Dyląg — Actress
Justyna Taborska — Actress
Kornelia Płaszczymąka — Actress
Anna Ryń — Actress
Patrycja Just — Runner
Krzysztof Solich — Runner
Joanna Ambroz — Poster Designer
