Polish official harshly criticizes film that explores migration crisis at Poland-Belarus border
CTV
A leading member of Poland's conservative government has sharply criticized a film premiering at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday that explores the humanitarian disaster affecting migrants along the border between Poland and Belarus.
A leading member of Poland's conservative government has sharply criticized a film premiering at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday that explores the humanitarian disaster affecting migrants along the border between Poland and Belarus.
"Green Border," by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, puts a spotlight on the refugee crisis that emerged two years ago at Belarus' borders with the European Union nations of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The film is in competition at the festival.
Poland's hard-right justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, slammed the film, comparing it to Nazi propaganda.
"In the Third Reich, the Germans produced propaganda films showing Poles as bandits and murderers. Today they have Agnieszka Holland for that," Ziobro wrote Monday on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter.
According to the film festival's description, the feature film dramatizes the tragedy that has played out in this "green border" of swamps and forests in a story showing the intertwining lives of a Polish activist, a young Polish border guard and a Syrian family.
Holland has been a critic of the Polish government's hard-line treatment of refugees and migrants, a viewpoint reflected in the film.
In 2021, the Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, lured migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Belarus with flights and visas, and directed them toward European Union countries. Belarusian guards in some cases pushed them across the border.
