The Hater

The Hater (Polish: Hejter) is a 2020 Polish drama film directed by Jan Komasa and written by Mateusz Pacewicz. It premiered on 6 March 2020 in Poland and went on to win the Best International Narrative Feature Award at Tribeca Film Festival.[1][2]

The film contains a key subplot revolving around far right fanatic preparing a violent attack on a liberal politician. According to Screen Daily interview with the director that was supposed to be an element of political fiction showing how online propelled hatred can lead to real life casualties. The real attack happened 3 weeks after wrapping up the shooting: on 13th of January 2019 a liberal politician Paweł Adamowicz was murdered during live broadcast charity event while on stage.[3]

Synopsis

Tomas Giemza - a disgraced law student obsessed with progressive, upper-class family takes a job at a PR company. What seems like just another assignment with which he was hoping to impress the family turns out to be a quickly developing troll farm where he excels in the business of spreading fake news and online hatred targeting celebrities and politicians. He starts to use his newly acquired skills in order to stalk, harass and ultimately control the family unaware that Tomek they knew from since he was a child decided to destroy their world.

Assassination of Paweł Adamowicz

On 13 January 2019, Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk, Poland was stabbed in the heart while on stage at the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity charity event in Gdańsk and was taken to University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk in critical condition, where he underwent five-hour long surgery. He died the following day. The detained killer was a 27-year old Stefan W. who was a vehement critic of liberal and democratic Civic Platform party Adamowicz was a member of.

The fictional film plot eventually focuses around organizing and realizing the violent attack on a liberal democrat running for mayor Paweł Rudnicki (Maciej Stuhr) by a disgruntled far-right white supremacist Stefan Guzkowski (Adam Gradowski). The script was completed in 2018 and shooting period ended on 22nd of December 2019 - three weeks before the actual real life attack came about.

Similarly to his unexpected film reflection Paweł Adamowicz was a long-time target of an overwhelming hate speech campaign fueled by politicians deriving from far-right and nationalist circles.[4]

Also coincidentally names of both the victim and the killer match real-life ones.[5]

Cast
  • Maciej Musiałowski as Tomasz Giemza
  • Vanessa Aleksander as Gabriela 'Gabi' Krasucka
  • Agata Kulesza as Beata Santorska
  • Danuta Stenka as Zofia Krasucka
  • Jacek Koman as Robert Krasucki
  • Maciej Stuhr as Paweł Rudnicki
  • Adam Gradowski as Stefan 'Guzek' Guzkowski

Critical response

The film was positively reviewed by Ola Salwa on Cineuropa: "The Hater is a thrilling tale of an anti-hero and of the survival of the fittest, which in this case means those who have a strong and agile thumb and index finger."[6]

Awards and nominations

The Hater premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in the International Narrative Competition and won Best International Narrative Feature award. The jury comprised film professionals among whom were Danny Boyle and William Hurt.[1]

References
  1. Moreau, Jordan; Moreau, Jordan (2020-04-29). "'The Half of It,' Steve Zahn, Assol Abdullina Win Awards at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  2. "The Hater | 2020 Tribeca Film Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. Macnab2019-10-05T10:39:00+01:00, Geoffrey. "Poland's Jan Komasa sets English-language horror 'Sara' as next film (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  4. "The killing of Gdańsk's mayor is the tragic result of hate speech | Piotr Buras". the Guardian. 2019-01-17. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  5. Macnab2019-10-05T10:39:00+01:00, Geoffrey. "Poland's Jan Komasa sets English-language horror 'Sara' as next film (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  6. "Review: The Hater". Cineuropa - the best of european cinema. Retrieved 2020-05-13.


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