Referring to Green Border, in which a group of fictional refugees trying to get into Poland are returned to Belarus by uncaring Polish border guards, Przemyslaw Czarnek launched a stinging attack.
Przemysław Piątkowski/PAP

Poland’s education minister has become the latest government figure to savage a new film by acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland examining the plight of migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border.

Referring to Green Border, in which a group of fictional refugees trying to get into Poland are returned to Belarus by uncaring Polish border guards, Przemyslaw Czarnek launched a stinging attack.

“We are very grateful to Ms Holland for this film, it is very good that it is now showing in cinemas, because it is another case of spitting on the Polish uniform, spitting on the Polish security services, spitting on the Polish Army and all those who guard 24 hours a day, risking their lives and health for the border of the Republic of Poland, so that there would be no Bucza in Chelm.

“So that there would be no Marseilles, no burning cars in Rzeszow, Lublin or Warsaw. So that there would not be as many rapes of Polish women as in France or Belgium.”

He added that “these people, risking their own health and lives, protect the safety of Polish women and men so that there will be no hell for women in Poland, to be served-up by those who would like to let all illegal migrants cross the border.”

“Thank you very much to Ms. Holland for showing this film now, because it once again reveals the attitude of that side, represented by (the daily newspaper – PAP) ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’, towards the Polish security services, the army and the uniforms,” Czarnek said.

His comments come in the wake of a number of other attacks on the film by government ministers. Zbigniew Ziobro, the justice minister, likened it to Third Reich propaganda, while Mariusz Kaminski, the interior minister, said it was portraying a “false” reality of the situation on the border.

The outrage of the ministers, however, failed to prevent Green Border, which premiered on September 5, receiving critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival last week, which led to Holland picking up the Special Jury Prize for the film.

Speaking at the awards ceremony the film director said: “The situation from my film is still going on. People are still hiding in forests, deprived and stripped of their dignity, their human rights and safety, and some of them will lose their lives.”