Directors of Vocation – Karol Wojtyła on the Silver Screen

Abstract

Several films about John Paul II were shot during his lifetime. Both in feature films and documentary productions, which are a kind of guide to the most important events of the great pontificate, the film-makers tried to depict the history of a man who, through his service, transformed the face of the world by making it better. In this article, efforts are made to study and present the sources of Wojtyła’s spiritual power – to talk about his ‘home seminary’ and the path he had to follow to become a priest. The creators of the worlds presented based their message on archival documents, the testimonies of those people closest to the Pope, as well as on the recollections of John Paul II. Based on such material, the directors showed the viewers the journey of Lolek/Karol towards God, towards his extraordinary intimacy with Him, a path which was, for the Pope, a process of opening himself up to Love – a pilgrimage to the ‘sense of existence’.