The Wind: A Documentary Thriller

The halny wind, blowing several times a year in the Podhale region, is one of the most unpredictable elements in the Polish Tatra mountains. You never know if, and when it will turn into a destructive hurricane. It awakes fears and unleashes the unusual behaviour of the local inhabitants. When it comes, people become restless, police interventions are more frequent than usual, the suicide rate reaches the highest level, and a great number of people with heart disease have to be hospitalised. In the film the destructive wind is portrayed not only with the images of the desolation it brings but also through the prism of its influence on the everyday life of ordinary people. The main protagonists - the Highlander poetess, the paramedic, the meteorologist and the father - are four different personalities and four fates which are interwoven with the cyclically blowing halny wind. Michał Bielawski shows their stories immersed in the incredible highlander folk culture, full of fears, passions, love and dread.