Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland slams Elon Musk’s lack of empathy, urges people to fight ‘very strongly’

Three-time Academy Award-nominated Polish auteur Agnieszka Holland saw the consequences of dangerous political ideologies first-hand growing up in Central Europe after World War II.

Having dedicated her career as a filmmaker to examining atrocities committed in the name of these ideologies, from nazism to communism, she has a unique perspective on where the world currently finds itself.

A world where the most powerful person on the planet — like it or not that’s Donald Trump — sides with a tyrant like Vladimir Putin over Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, potentially plunging continental Europe into a new dark age.

“I experienced the struggles and fight for another Europe,” Holland tells The West Australian. “A fight for a Europe of values, human rights, democracy, solidarity and equality.

“I have shown in my movies, for example, like (1990 historical war film) Europa, Europa, that Europe can be the cradle of incredible values and culture and democracy and human rights, but it can be also the cradle of the most incredible crimes against humanity and contempt for others.

“And now we are back on that front, not only in Europe, because the biggest player is the United States of America, where one of the most important people in (Trump’s) administration is Elon Musk, who is saying that the biggest weakness of Western civilisation is empathy.”

Holland has never been afraid to push back against authority, and faced enormous opposition from the Polish government while making her latest film, Green Border.

The movie is a dramatic retelling of the very harrowing true story of the 2021 humanitarian crisis that erupted in the exclusion zone between Poland and Belarus.

The Belarussian government cynically encouraged Syrian refugees fleeing Islamic State or the Assad regime to enter Europe across their border, as a deliberate provocation to the European Union.

Once the refugees crossed the border, Belarus military forces stopped them returning, but the way forward was blocked by Polish troops.

These men, women and children were then strong-armed back and forth through one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests, completely powerless against increasingly violent and cruel treatment by both countries.

As always, Holland’s direction is as unflinching as it is accomplished, and the end result is a poignant film with an impact that lasts long after the closing credits roll.

Green Border won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, and sparked a pop culture movement in Poland.

It is not the easiest movie to watch, but it speaks to the power of the human spirit, which is an enduring source of inspiration and hope for the Polish filmmaker.

“With the rise of right-wing and authoritarian governments, and with the climate catastrophe, it’s difficult to be very optimistic about the future,” Holland admits.

“But we have only one life, and we have to spend it rightly, I think, so even in the darkest times, you have people who’ve been fighting for the values at the risk of their lives often.

“As long as you have people who don’t think, like Elon Musk, that the biggest weakness of Western civilisation is empathy. You have to fight that opinion very strongly.”

Green Border is playing until Sunday as part of Lotterywest Films at Perth Festival at the UWA Somerville Auditorium.