Bandyta (also known as “Brute” in German and “Bastard” in English) – an album by Michał Lorenc featuring the soundtrack to the German-French-British-Polish feature film “Bandyta” from 1997, directed by Maciej Dejczer. The album was released on October 6, 1997, and contains 24 tracks.
Michał Lorenc composed four hours of music specifically for the film. As the film was intended to include only one hour of music, the composer had to make a thorough selection of material. In one interview, he said:
“This film squeezed out a whole bunch of ideas from me. I wrote two, sometimes three variations of music for each scene.”
The song “Mro iło” was performed by Katarzyna Jamróz, Kayah, and Daria Pawłowska. The lyrics were written by Andrzej Pawłowski.
The track “Taniec Eleny” was used by Romanian gymnast Sandra Izbașa as the background music for her floor exercises during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where Izbașa won the gold medal. The same track is used as the entrance music for the football team Widzew Łódź at the Ludwik Sobolewski Stadium in Łódź.
The music for the film was very well received. The album achieved double platinum status on December 19, 2001.
About the movie:
Cast:
Til Schweiger as Brute
Polly Walker as Mara
Pete Postlethwaite as Sincai
John Hurt as Babits
Ida Jabłońska as Elena
Bartek Pieniążek as Moscu
Wojciech Brzeziński as Iorgu
Andrzej Grąziewicz
Plot Summary:
The film begins in London but most of it takes place in Romania. The main character, Brute (Til Schweiger), is a habitual offender. Eventually, the prison warden sends him to a newly established rehabilitation program in Romania, where he is to work as a staff member in an orphanage hospital. There, he meets a nurse, and his thoughts of escape take a back seat. Simultaneously, he discovers an illegal operation. The caretakers of the orphanage are selling children to Western couples. Initially resistant, Brute eventually realizes that this is the only chance for these children to have a better life, and the money obtained is used for necessary medical supplies and medications for the others. However, for a young Romani girl, a heart surgery requires an expensive artificial valve. Doctors and Brute must grapple with their consciences and make the toughest decisions.
Additional Information:
The filming took place from April 21 to June 15, 1996.
Actress Polly Walker, who played Mary, learned a few words in Romanian and Romani dialect.
The scenes were shot in the UK and Poland: Warsaw (Wolski Hospital). The mountainous Romanian landscapes were depicted using the scenery of the Bieszczady Mountains (Wetlina Pass, near Komańcza).
The German edition of the film has a different ending than the Polish or French versions and minor differences in the plot.