Director Janusz Kondratiuk was born into a displaced Polish family in 1943 in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. He was married to actress Ewa Szykulska, then to Beata Madalinska. He had a son and a daughter. His elder brother Andrzej was also a movie director born in 1936 in Pinsk, at the time in Poland. He was married to actress Iga Cembrzyska. In 2005, he suffered a stroke and died on 2016.
All of the above are the characters in this movie (no names changed). The film is "based on real facts" but does not claim to be a documentary or semidocumentary, thus we are never sure where facts end and fiction begins. The story centers on the aftermath of Andrzej's stroke, which leaves him almost totally paralyzed and in a diminished mental state. Janusz and Beata decide to take care of Andrzej with some help from daughter and son, and we witness Janusz trying to make sense of the doctors' diagnostic and advise, contending with the national health system and private caregivers and dealing with the ineffective Iga and her covetous sister. The tale is told without exaggerating drama or sentimentality and shows in a strikingly accurate fashion the reality of taking care of a stroke patient with no hopes of recovery. At times the feeling is more lighthearted, with Janusz depicting himself as a sort of man of all work, other times getting back at one or other of the characters. We also get some hints about the brothers sojourn in Kazakhstan.
The movie succeeds mainly because of a witty script and the excellent acting by principals Robert Wieckiewicz (Janusz) and Olgierd Lukaszewicz (Andrzej) who are on screen in almost all scenes, The rest of the cast is equally excellent. Production values are high and everything coalesces into a very watchable film.
