Black Thursday - a feature film focusing on the tragic events in the Baltic ports in December 1970, during which the communist riot police and the military opened fire on the demonstrators – goes on general release today.

According to official data, 44 people were killed and over 1160 wounded during the workers’ protests in the Baltic towns of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin and Elbląg in December 1970.

The script, by Mirosław Piepka and Michal Pruski, both of whom witnessed the events of December 1970 as small boys, is based on the life story of a Gdynia shipyard worker Brunon Drywa, who was shot dead on Thursday, 17 December, on accounts by various people as well as documents.

Director Antoni Krauze said after the film’s premiere earlier this week that he wanted to pay tribute to all the victims of the revolt and to those who have lived with a big trauma for all these years.

“They are all the heroes of my film,” he said.

Film critic from the Gazeta Wyborcza daily describes Black Thursday as the best film on Poland’s modern history made after the collapse of communism in 1989. (mk)