Pearl in the Crown

The film is set in Upper Silesia. The years are the nineteen thirties. The region lives off its mines. The Zygmunt mine is one of them. Its owners are German. One day a decision is announced. The mine is not held to be profitable. The way of closing it is harsh. The pit is to be filled with water. The miners stand against it. They stop work and shut themselves in the pit. At the centre of the account is a miner called Jaś and his family. His wife Wichta and their sons live through those days. The strike spreads to the town before long. Then the whole region comes out behind the miners. Lucja Kowolik and Olgierd Łukaszewicz take the leads, with Franciszek Pieczka also in the cast, in Kazimierz Kutz’s Polish film of 1972.