RAVEN. WHISPERS ARE HEARD AFTER DARK

dir. Maciej Pieprzyca, 2018

After the premiere of the first season, the series about the fate of Inspector Adam Kruk (played by Michał Żurawski) was hailed by reviewers as one of the best Polish crime series. The very beginning, when the sequence of first shots is accompanied by the text of Danuta Wawiłow's poem “Jak tu ciemno”, spoken by a frightened child, evokes shivers. Jakub Korolczuk's script is structured as if it were a film divided into six episodes. The plot concerns three criminal cases, which intertwine as the action unfolds. The first is the aforementioned investigation into cigarette smuggling, which in fact is only a pretext to move the action to Podlasie, where we come to the second, this time the main plot thread - in the Białystok orphanage warded by Adam Kruk, acts of paedophilia have been taking place for years. Now the inspector finds himself at the threshold of a trauma from the past, repressed for years, and seeks justice on his own. The third case, the kidnapping of the grandson of a Białystok`s gangster who shakes up the entire city, appears as the plot develops and ties up the other threads. The present intertwines with the past and with every passing minute, until the very end, new pages are revealed, filling in the gaps and forming a complete story.

The first episode is a sort of introduction of the characters, but the scriptwriter doesn't waste too much time introducing them. The main character, Inspector Adam Kruk, has a real talent for solving puzzles, something of a sixth sense. One glance at a caller opens up some kind of extra third eye in Kruk. But why he walks around in an orthopaedic collar and where the lifeless pain comes from - we don't know. Sławek, a newcomer from his childhood, is a rather enigmatic character. At first we think he is a friend, but Kruk refers to him in a rather cold manner, and after the bathroom scene, one can already have total confusion about their relationship. The mystery of this character is explained over the course of the following episodes. Adam's wife Anna, on the other hand, is perhaps the brightest point in his biography. It is in her that Kruk ultimately finds solace for his troubled soul. The background is also superb: the Białystok commandant Stanisław Tylenda is a true type from under the dark star (played by the excellent Andrzej Zaborski). He arouses suspicion from the start, and the more we get to know him, the more he arouses disgust with his hubris and sense of impunity in the name of the authorities he wields. His subordinate police officer and relative Marek Kaponow (played by Mariusz Jakus, an actor from the Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, known to a wider audience for his role as a sadistic military officer in Feliks Falk's ‘Samowolka’) is well connected to the criminal world of Białystok. And although he undergoes a transformation as the plot develops, he will have to pay for his old sins. Punishment for the evil done in the past is the main theme of the series. Szymon Wasiluk (played by Marcin Bosak), a boy wronged years ago, returns as an adult man with psychopathic tendencies, and his goal will be to exact the ultimate revenge.

The climate of Podlasie adds to the dark atmosphere of the series. It appears to the viewer as a mysterious land full of hanging mists, tall grasses, silent lakes. As if somewhere in the east, on the borderland, it was easier to hide evil. The cinematography by Jan Holoubek - otherwise a director of stylish and dark series - and Witold Plóciennik further enhance this experience. Bartosz Chajdecki's music, which weaves folkloric motifs into the track, has a similar effect. “Lullaby of a Raven” ("Czorny woron litaje"), which is the leitmotif of the entire season and is stylised into Podlasie folk songs, was sung in Podlasie Ukrainian dialect by the Bialystok group “Południce”.

Some of the most important Łódź locations in the series include:

Dawid Tempel's tenement house, 4 Sienkiewicza St.

Raven's flat in Łódź is located at this address. When he wakes up in the morning in his flat, we see a sore, tired guy. He is talking in the kitchen with his wife, Anna (played by Katarzyna Wajda), who is a teacher. It is today that Adam is to visit her class and talk about his work. However, when Raven is left home alone, trouble begins. Addicted to painkilling opioids, he ingests them to get through another day. At the same time, he dumps psychotropic drugs in the bathroom sink. Suddenly, a little boy with glasses appears in the bathroom, who, by playing a harmonica, opens a symbolic door to the past. We learn that both Adam and his old friend Sławek were brought up in an orphanage in Białystok.

When we find ourselves back in Kruk's flat in Łódź, we see Anna placing plates of soup on the table. Meanwhile, on the balcony, Sławek is playing his indispensable harmonica, and in the background we see the former building of the Textile Headquarters. Adam explains to his wife that he has to go to Bialystok for a month to solve a cigarette smuggling case, as ordered by his superior. The situation is tense. Anna is expecting a baby and does not want to be left alone at this point. Raven, assured that they will have time to do everything when he returns, decides to go.

Hotel ‘Daria’ Manor House, Arturówek, 2 Studencka Street

The picturesque palace played home to the Moravian family in the series. The building was filmed both from the outside and inside. The grandson of a Podlasie businessman, Zygmunt Morawski, is kidnapped from here. Inspector Adam Kruk conducts a site inspection and tries to guess the kidnapper's next move.

Leisure and Hotel Centre “Prząśniczka”, Arturówek, 20/24 Studencka Street

In the first episode of the series, shortly after Inspector Adam Kruk moves to Podlasie, he is assigned a case of robbing a holiday home. Accompanied by local police officers, Kruk drives to the scene of the theft. The policeman driving the car, Marek Kaponov (Mariusz Jakus), is just driving up to the ‘Prząśniczka’ resort.

Skyscraper, 25 Wigury Street

The entrance to a skyscraper in Łódź played the police station in Białystok. When Kruk arrives in the East for the first time in the series, he parks his car right under this building. In the background, the colourful façade of the Empir furniture store can be seen. The skyscraper has undergone extensive renovation since the series was filmed, and today it looks completely different.

Chapel at Radlinski Hospital, 75 Drewnowska Street

Scenes from Kruk's past were filmed in the former orthopaedic hospital on Drewnowska Street. In the hospital chapel next door, a dormitory in the Podlasie orphanage where Adam Kruk grew up was arranged. In exchange for an adjoining bed, a newly arrived boy, Sławek, promises to teach Adam to play the mouth harmonica.

Pałac Elektrownia Łódzka, 107 Gdańska Street

The historic villa was used in the series as the home of the orphanage where Adam Kruk is brought up. The building was filmed both from the outside - in scenes when the pupils play football - and also inside. Particularly distinctive is the staircase with its large stained-glass windows, where dramatic events occur that will forever leave a mark on Raven's health.

Montwiłł-Mirecki housing estate

In the final scene of the series' first season, Raven reveals secrets from his past to his wife. The words spoken aloud cause the hurt childhood friend who accompanies him everywhere to finally leave. We see a boy walking down Gustaw Daniłowski Street.