Original subtitles

Tor Film Studio presents

THE ILLUMINATION

Starring

Music by

Production Designer

Editing

Scientific Consultants

The Illumination

What is illumination?

Illumination is a term and a notion of Augustine's.

The term and the notion itself were present throughout the Middle Ages,

in all medieval philosophy.

According to this doctrine we obtain knowledge

by the enlightenment of the mind.

Then, in the very moment of enlightenment,

the mind sees the truth directly,

just as our eyes see the physical world.

The mind sees it directly, without reasoning.

Illumination is not a result of ecstasy;

it's not thoughtless ecstasy or enrapture.

It's the heightening of thought.

The only thing necessary to achieve this state

is purity of heart.

Purity of heart is more important than the action of the mind.

Written and Directed By Director of Photography

- First name? - Franciszek.

- Last name? - Retman.

Year of birth?

1944.

Height: 176 cm. Weight: 66.2 kg.

This kind of myopia requires the continuous use

of corrective lenses.

Blood pressure normal, 130 over 80.

A visible tendency to scoliosis, very bad posture.

Please, press the red button when you see the light signal,

and the green one when you hear the sound signal.

The stylus should not touch the edge of the slit.

Please, try to position the indicator vertically.

More. More. Not yet.

Just a bit more. A little bit.

Please, arrange the blocks into the figure visible on the picture.

The tests conducted revealed multidisciplinary talents

and a high level of intelligence,

as well as cognitive abilities, and a tendency towards reflection.

HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA

OK, thank you.

Would you sit down for a moment?

- May I see the folder? - The folder, yes...

Take a look.

- This is it. Here. - Mr Retman.

- Yes. - Here you are.

- May I see his diploma? - It's here somewhere.

These grades are quite good.

As are your school leaving exam grades.

May I ask why you want to

study physics?

Judging by your grades you're good at basically everything.

It seemed the closest.

Are you interested in any specific branch of physics?

Is there anything that especially interests you

as far as the various branches of physics are concerned?

I guess there is, although I'd prefer to answer...

Please, excuse these questions but we're always interested in

how the candidates imagine their studies...

The unpolluted minds.

Do you have any specific plans which have a bearing on your

- choice of studies? - Should I give a serious answer?

- Absolutely. - I wouldn't want to sound stupid

but I think I'd just like to know certain things...

- Just like that. - But this can be said about

any other course of studies - that you learn new things there.

Well, I guess...

I think that physics teaches things that are certain.

I mean unequivocal.

We hereby inform that you have been accepted to study at the department of physics...

Please, don't get up.

Do you think they'll land before we graduate?

I don't think they can make it by 1965.

Weapons forward!

Even your pace! Form a line!

Attack from the front. Cover your weapons. Close your eyes.

I feel in no way responsible for the atomic bomb

since it was invented a long time ago.

PHYSICS STUDENTS

And with no participation on my part

so the impact I might have...

- Physicists invented the bomb. - But it wasn't them who used it...

Physics no longer has a decisive influence on things like it did 30 years ago.

If we're asking if a modern physicist can

decide the fate of the world or its total annihilation,

there is no doubt that the answer is no. Those days are gone.

Today, a biologist may have such an impact by messing around with genes.

So if we're asking if physicists are responsible for anything

we may as well stop talking for the answer is no.

But if we're talking about the general responsibilities of scientists

let's set ourselves free. Let's stop trying to be Magellan,

- and look at these things... - Physics has stopped being

- the leading science. - My point exactly.

It's become a normal, workaday trade.

This responsibility from 30 years ago isn't there anymore.

It is now the burden of other sciences.

Sciences such as molecular biology or genetic experiments

which pose possible threats

that I'm personally terrified of.

Human embryo from a test tube

Embryo of a mouse from a non-fertilized egg. Development prompted by electric current.

Genes of a virus in human chromosomes

The first step towards controlling heredity

inborn genetic defect

I separate two things - pure science

which should be supported, and if someone

is attracted to it by sheer curiosity, then

- it's a very noble motivation. - Pure science, pure poetry,

- such concepts do not exist. - What are you saying? Pure poetry exists.

To tell the truth, none of us working in physics

pays much attention to the world. Everyone is pursuing

his personal career to make the money we need

to have a house, to have a car,

to have company, to have

the company of people who make us feel good.

To have, let's say, important friends,

and to be respected by those we live among.

These are the most natural human needs...

So the physicists who graduated from our department should

take the first opportunity to move to such countries

where they can make money because here you can't.

Physics here is sheer pleasure.

- It is generally treated as pleasure. - But they are here, in Poland.

You should understand that money alone is not enough.

A career is also needed, by which I mean the company

and the recognition of the right people.

Those kinds of needs.

You had a coat.

You may get cold.

It's quite chilly.

Well, go now.

Once, the giant mass of the matter

which space, galaxies, solar systems and ourselves are made up of

was concentrated in something called

the primary state. There was a point which didn't exist in time,

as we understand time. It had no dimensions.

It's estimated that some 10 billion years ago

that point exploded. And that from that moment, the whole universe

has been in exploding.

- Wait... - It's the same with galaxies.

Experiments show us that galaxies move further and further apart.

So, all that matter which we are in, is thinning out.

- And that started... - At the moment of the explosion, yes?

What's your star sign?

My star sign? Why are you asking?

You don't like for yourself you don't like yourself.

You go to sleep but there are various thoughts in your heart.

You've had much distress in life.

You still do.

You drunken lout! Leave me alone!

Go. Leave, please.

Go! And stop following me around.

Please, stop following me around.

Go on, leave!

Just go.

Be quiet! Be quiet!

We have to decide on a fast route, because... you know...

Włodek! You were there yesterday, weren't you?

Yes and it was OK.

In a distant valley junipers turn red in the autumn.

Excuse me, will you? Just a second.

It's time to go to sleep.

If it's too hard for you, you should opt for hitchhiking

and you'll be fine.

When you're going to need three pitons...

Franiu! Are you waking up? Are you?

Mirek, I beg you.

- OK. - Just, please, no water.

- Come on, get up. - I am.

Very well.

Get your things, we're leaving.

I'll catch up with you.

What's going on?

Here...

Excuse me...

The 3rd year students are asked to personally inform

the dean's office of their choice of specialization.

Did I hear you're trying to rebel?

No, not at all.

I gave up on trying to rebel long ago.

They want me to choose and I don't want to choose.

I don't want to make any choices.

No one knows better than you that

we don't know anything. You've taught us the physics of 20 years ago.

And it's all very well but we

have no idea of what's going on

in contemporary physics.

It's a huge gap. So how am I to know

which branch of physics

I should go for? Where success lies?

- And you'd like to be good? - Wouldn't you?

It's not so much about being good

but about finding a place from where

you can see the whole thing, where you can synthesize.

Well, you do stand some chance. Einstein and a few others succeeded.

But I'm giving you maybe one chance in 10,000.

It's not about becoming an Einstein.

I just don't want to make that choice yet,

I don't want to get stuck in a narrow specialization.

Making choices is never easy, not only in physics.

You'll face the same problem in life.

The point is that every time you choose you concentrate on what you're losing,

and not on what you're doing.

But in physics you have to decide immediately. If you ever achieve anything,

it'll be before you turn thirty.

Albert Einstein became a professor at 34. He was 42 when he received the Nobel Prize

Max Planck became a professor at 22. He was 60 when he received the Nobel Prize

Werner Heisenberg became a professor at 26. He was 31 when he received the Nobel Prize

The relation of scientific productivity to age

The most important difference between dimensions in space and time

is that while we can move in space

in various directions, intentionally and consciously,

the course of time in our consciousness seems to be automatic.

We can't control it.

The course of time in our mind can be compared to

a moving illumination: the present and the past,

which exists in our memory, are illuminated,

while the future lies in darkness.

Maybe there is a way to illuminate the future,

to expand this illumination.

Maybe there are people who, even in darkness, can decipher

unclear outlines of what will happen tomorrow.

Such views may sound strange coming from a physicist.

But contemporary science doesn't rule out

the existence of the future in the present.

Just as the past exists in our memory.

- I'm sorry... - Franek, what is it?

You didn't start evenly, everyone stomps

at the same time.

Attention!

Slower! Slower. Leg higher.

The hand works up to your waist. And back as far as you can.

Right wing, leg higher!

I've come especially to tell you something.

I think I know what it is.

Yes.

Well, you see, now my question is whether you can help me out somehow.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here.

I'm talking about the money. It's the right moment...

All my friends are away

and so I'd like to ask you

to arrange it, OK?

Małgosia, but...

I want to be with you...

But it's... You can't take it this way.

I didn't come here for your pity...

- What pity? - Leave me, seriously...

It's just a moment, it's all I'm asking for.

And I am asking you... I'm asking you...

Come on, Franek, stop fooling around.

- No. - It's just a moment.

- No. - I'm really

only here about the money. I wouldn't have come otherwise.

- Ewka is away... - How can you...

No, no, no...

You can't think like that, or talk like that...

But...

It's only now, that what we have between us is

- worth anything. - But why?

Don't make that face. You can't fool me this way.

Please, let's not spoil everything.

- No. - Yes.

Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!

Newlyweds looking for a room to rent.

Come in, take a look.

- May I look around? - Of course.

- It's nice. - We'll have to carry coal

- up from the basement, won't we? - From the basement, yes.

- And heat the water? - Yes.

- There is water... - Well, that's fine.

Great but could it be a little cheaper?

- No, no way, it's impossible. - Just a little bit...

I can't help it, I really can't. It's up to you.

Don't breathe for a moment.

Would you like to listen to the baby?

I would like to apply for a one-year leave of absence.

Sir, I tried to look for a part-time job

but it's not a solution for me. Right now, I just don't

have any other choice. I have to suspend my studies.

Are you aware that

that once you break off with science, it is extremely difficult

to get back to it again. I don't think I know any people

who continued their studies after having to suspend them.

I'd very much like to... come back but at the moment...

I have absolutely... well... no other choice.

- In the middle? - Well. They feed...

Move your hand.

They feed them bread, throw the bread in.

They know nothing about it and the fish get sick.

- See, how cool it is? - ls this what you do?

It is. Isn't it cool? Knock on the other side,

they'll come.

They're going to buy another fish tank

so I'll put one on top of the other.

Veiltails are the most beautiful. Have you ever seen them?

I haven't.

They're cool. Their tails look like veils.

When they swim, they have flowing veils here in the front

and also, you know, so...

Or angelfish. They have double tails.

Some call them moonfish because they have, you know, such a...

Franek, could you lend me 100 zloty till tomorrow?

I can't...

Be quiet, I can't take it anymore. Calm down.

Quiet! Stop screaming.

Be quiet.

Calm down, my boy.

Building Society Book

- You saw it? - What?

What do you mean what? Why did you stamp it?

- It's fine. - Fine?

It's clear that the pressure isn't holding.

- I'm sorry, I must have... - Apologize to a patient...

You'll have to apologize to a patient.

- Don't shout at me. - Should I hit you instead?

Yes.

Will it be long?

Not long at all. You'll be asleep in a moment.

Well then...

What will it be like? Will I sleep well after this?

- I think you will. - Really?

Because I'm afraid that when I go to work tomorrow

I'll be sleepy or drowsy...

You shouldn't be either.

So it means, you think that...

Electrodes attached to the subject's skin

facilitate the recording of the bioelectricai activity

of the specific spheres of the brain. The subject falls asleep.

Soon, beside slow waves of irregular amplitude

a short series of high frequency waves appear,

the so called sleep spindles.

This chart means the patient is entering deep sleep.

A dream with this kind of electroencephalographic characteristics

lasts longer, in line with the physical fatigue of the subject.

More or less every 90 minutes there are variations in the chart

indicating an increase of brain activity.

In this phase, we may observe the characteristic rapid eye movement

under the eyelids.

According to currently available data, most dreaming

occurs specifically at this stage of sleep.

Heavy mental fatigue increases the length of this phase,

known in the literature as paradoxical sleep.

People artificially deprived of this phase, experience

a disorder of their emotional life, and even visual and aural hallucinations.

In subjects experiencing hypnotic sleep, a hypnotist's command

may lead to an arbitrary recording of the electroencephalographic activity of the brain.

Open your eyes, please, you've slept long enough.

It's already morning.

Please, open your eyes, it's the day already.

You're awake. It's over now.

- Yes. - What did you dream about?

Do you remember what you dreamt about?

- Yes, I do. - What was it?

I don't know, some...

Some courtyard.

- And what was there? - Something... there...

It can't be explained...

There's no sense in telling this...

It won't be the same.

How many days am I getting paid for?

For three days.

But I also slept on the 17th and the 28th.

It should be more.

- You need to take it up at the laboratory. - Do you think I sleep here

for pleasure? For pleasure I sleep at home.

- And how do you imagine that? - Well...

I make much more now, you know.

I think that I really should go to work,

- just think about it. - It doesn't make sense.

- But we have such big expenses. - So what?

- We really can't make ends meet. - And what will you do with the baby?

He can go to nursery school.

You said yourself that the child shouldn't go to nursery school.

I did, but there really isn't any other option.

But I'll work overtime now.

But with the overtime you're hardly ever here.

You're away all day... And when you get back

you spend time with your books not with us.

Contemporary neurophysiology aims at discovering

which parts of the brain are responsible for the respective states and functions of the body.

Experiments have led to the creation of more and more precise maps of the brain.

Electrodes were attached to specific points in the monkey's hypothalamus.

Electric stimulation of those areas causes immediate

bouts of aggression.

When the stimulation ceases, the animal immediately calms down.

Have such experiments been carried out on people?

Yes.

- Yes? - Yes.

So you just insert an electrode into someone's brain

and cause attacks of rage and aggression, yes?

Yes.

- You haven't even asked how I've been. - Because I can guess.

You got married, you have children.

You're probably trying to be a very good father

and a loyal husband.

You think that's wrong?

I also think that you have very beautiful and noble problems.

And you take yourself very seriously. Extremely seriously.

I think that...

We shouldn't pay so much attention to ourselves.

I don't think we're really as important as we assume we are.

Is someone

- sending you those thoughts? - I don't know, maybe they're mine,

maybe somebody else's, I don't know... But they're most probably

- mine. - Your thoughts?

They're in your head?

- They come to my head. - They come to your head, yes?

So maybe someone sends them?

Before... it might have been possible

it was someone but now I just don't know.

I don't think so.

- Just a moment. - For diagnostic purposes

we obtain a sample of cerebrospinal fluid.

A spider is injected with the fluid.

Under the influence of the injected fluid the web woven by the spider

is deformed.

Normal spider web.

Web woven after injection of the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient.

Experiments carried out by the German scientist Peter Witt

indicate that visible and characteristic deformations of the web

appear when the patient suffers from schizophrenia.

Patient suffering from paranoid schizophrenia

Franek, I've been thinking...

why are those people even alive?

They are a problem for themselves and for others.

And the cost of it all...

- You think the money is wasted? - No, not really.

But sometimes I think that he was right.

- Who? - Hitler.

So you'd like to send them all to the gas chambers?

No, not the gas chambers.

Maybe some more humane way, you know, an injection

- or something. - Do you understand what you're saying?

What's not to understand?

You're nothing more than an animal. Stop the car.

- What? - Stop the car!

I'm afraid. I'm so afraid.

But it won't...

A jaw.

It's OK. I let go for a moment.

I'll hold it.

Now.

Listen, tell me, do you believe that

there is some criterion? A boundary?

I can't fathom it.

How long is a man still a man?

From the point of view of medicine - as long as any biological processes

continue to take place in his body.

Well, but there are people like vegetables.

That's nothing more than vegetation.

I just don't know... They're just bodies.

You speak as if it was possible to separate the soul from the body.

As if the soul could fly out of the body like a dove.

But if it isn't so, if there is some unity,

then why do we intervene so brutally,

on the material basis of the soul?

Because“.

Electric shock therapy is like an amputation.

People are not the same before and after therapy.

Listen, every medical procedure is an interference

on this material basis you're talking about.

And there are no clear divisions.

You can't separate the soul and the body.

A more brutal therapy from a less brutal one.

These things are not so easily divisible.

How are you now?

An electrode allows the location of pathological changes in the brain to be identified.

- Fine... - Anything hurt?

- No. - Are you very tired?

Well...

Any unpleasant sensation?

- No. - Nothing?

- No. - And how are you in general?

- Not too bad. - Please, pay attention for a moment.

Yes.

And now? Any unpleasant sensation?

- Yes. - What?

Yes... I don't know but... Maybe... Maybe something,

- switch something on. - Switch what on? Why?

- There's a smell... - What smell?

- I don't know, no. - ls everything OK now?

- Yes. - Do you feel quite well?

Yes.

Those unpleasant smells? They're gone now?

I can't smell anything. It is...

- You can't smell anything? - No.

- What's going on? - Take... Take it away!

Take it! Take it away!

- What happened? - What?

- What happened to you? - Nothing.

- Nothing? Everything's OK? - Yes.

It's almost over. The surgery is almost over.

Is it?

- You're a musician? - No, not at all.

My fingers felt numb so I just plonk away...

I'm a mathematician.

Sometimes when things here break down, I repair them, that's my job.

But you want to get back to your studies?

Absolutely. If possible.

You know, I think I'll finally be able to go back this year.

Regardless of my problems, financial and otherwise.

I'd just like to change my major.

- And study biology. - Biology after physics?

Don't you think that it would be a step back?

Physics at least uses sound mathematical methods...

I chose to study mathematics because it bears no relation to reality at all.

It doesn't concern itself with reality.

I thought of physics as the science

that creates a system of laws and rules,

so general that it can be used to describe reality,

to describe the world.

That it is the key to understand reality.

Do you think that this reality is so madly important

that we should care for it so much?

Patient with preliminary diagnosis of epilepsy.

X-rays and arteriography lead to the following diagnosis:

parietal brain tumor.

Franek?

Yes?

- I'd like to ask you a favor. - Yes, what is it?

I'd like to ask you to go to my house,

- if it's possible. - Naturally.

I'd like to ask you to return some books

to the University Library.

The date of my surgery has been fixed, you know?

This is it.

- It's going to be heavy, the books are very big. - Not at all...

- Will you manage? - No problem, I'll take them

- separately. - Will you? Well, OK then.

Do you happen to know why my son doesn't want me to visit him?

Well, madam...

It seems to me... From what I know about hospitals...

that patients often go through periods of time...

- ...when they want to be alone. - Yes. Yes, I see.

Thank you. Goodbye.

Good.

A swab, please.

OK.

BVM, please.

Can you see me?

Do you recognize me?

The report, please.

Here, you can clearly see a part of the tumor.

See this dark round part?

It was in the parietal lobe and pressed against the healthy tissue

of the brain, causing epilepsy.

- Do you see it well? - I do.

What would have happened if he hadn't been operated on?

He would have suffered for two more months and died.

- Do you want to see it under a microscope? - No.

You still need it?

No, it goes to our collection.

- What for? - It's just something we do.

Our hermitage has always been a safe haven for those weary of the noise of the world,

coming here to seek strength to fight earthly afflictions.

We hope you'll find it as well, errant Wayfarer

You've come here searching for your path?

I have.

You found our life interesting

and you want to find out more about it.

I wanted to know the meaning of this...

You see, no man will sacrifice his life for complete emptiness.

So if people who are here, and there are young people as well...

They're alone.

And they reject so many values, it's because they find something here.

Yes, I see.

You will see the little houses in which the hermits live.

We always live close to nature.

Our hermitages are, one might say, built into nature.

And here, in the second house, under the high pear-tree,

there used to live the oldest of our fathers,

who died last year, and who had joined the convent

in the previous century so he spent 70 years in the hermitage.

And in the last house on the left, there lives a father

- who has cut himself off completely. - When?

14 years ago.

The general chapter of the order can grant this privilege

which exempts those who need solitude

from joint prayer and allows them to be

- completely alone. - And if they die?

And if they die we bury them.

Experiencing states which are colloquially called mystical,

is, for many scientists, connected to the limbic system in the brain.

Substances called neurotransmitters play a part in regulating these states.

The acceleration of the transformation of specific neurotransmitters may be

the result of a conscious mental effort made by a person,

it may also take place under the influence of pharmacological substances.

For example LSD.

Why did you come here?

I know.

I'll give you back all your things.

We'll manage on our own.

You think that we won't?

We will. We'll manage on our own.

This isn't a hotel

where you can come and go as you please.

I would like to apply for readmission to the

Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.

When you're very young, you believe in all these equations

and strive for great success.

When you are a little more mature, you don't think so much about success,

but about what entertainment science offers,

because we become aware of the fact that neither astronomy nor physics,

nor any other science, gives us absolute knowledge.

In a way, they only allow us to approach understanding.

None of us thinks that an equation may grasp

absolute truth.

Diploma

Put it back. How much is it?

17.50. Leave it.

I thought we could afford it now.

Oolong tea is just as good. We've always drunk it...

Today, several incidents took place on the Warsaw University campus

endangering the functioning of the university as well as public order.

The police had to intervene.

There is a very good saying that the elite is that part of society

which feels responsible for the rest.

- Yes. - Well, I would like to

reverse the statement to some extent,

I mean, the elite wants to be responsible for the rest.

Undoubtedly, scientists are considered by society,

and by themselves, as the elite.

Which means they want to be responsible.

In their work physicists are used to a certain

way of reasoning, deduction,

which leads them to specific conclusions.

As a result, they automatically tend to codify

all social and political phenomena.

Well, it's an aspect of our profession,

I mean, whether scientists speak here about...

what they are entitled to speak about. Anyway, at least from some

moral point of view which is

a more general one than

the purely technical, tactical point of view, economic

or political.

- At least from this point of view... - But I don't think we can accept

people speaking the truth only as specialists.

To speak their mind only as specialists, I mean, naturally,

they have the right to express their opinions

- simply as people. - As citizens.

As citizens, that's right.

Scientists defined as the elite feel

more or less responsible...

Many of them feel responsible for,

the whole

of politics, the social system etc. and not merely for the

application of science to some practical purposes.

University of Warsaw announces vacant positions for doctoral candidates

On the other hand, I can't keep the position vacant indefinitely.

And in this respect the autumn is absolutely the final deadline.

So it is in your hands, so to speak, at the moment.

Although, I personally want to warn you

that it should be a good thesis

and, I just don't know, I don't think you can manage it in time.

Well, but...

We would like to inform you that the you have been admitted to doctoral studies in the field of

solid-state physics and have been granted a monthly stipend to the amount of 1950 zl.

Do you want some more, Marcin?

Theoretical curve

So tomorrow they check our thesis,

- and the day after tomorrow we get to work. - The day after tomorrow is Sunday.

Does that matter?

Well... Something always comes up on Sundays.

Some people come to visit. You need to stay at home a little.

You know, it's quiet here on Sundays.

It's never so quiet here during the week.

But Sunday is Sunday. You have to live a little.

And what about you?

Nothing, I hoped we could make up for the lost time a little.

Man, you have to live a little,

outside work.

You know, the most ridiculous thing is that

this piercing chest pain waking me up at night,

terrifies me.

The changes in your ECG are rather slight.

It's just Da Costa's syndrome.

Well, I'm glad, but... You mean it's only anxiety?

What do you mean "only"?

I was worried that it was something serious.

Nothing to be cheerful about.

- You've just turned 30. - I haven't yet.

You will very soon and you already have early changes in your coronary arteries.

You know, from this age on it's all downhill.

It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse.

Your body will start to break down.

All those things you were interested in also apply to you.

You have a body and it limits you.

What are your orders?

I don't have any, I can't order you to do anything.

I can only give you advice to start living

a little less intensely.

What you have planned for 3-4 years, do in 5-6 years.

- You just have to slow down. - 5-6, right?

No, it's complete nonsense.

I... I'm already late.

I've wasted many years, you know.

I've lived too slowly.

It's only now I want to live intensely.

What you are suggesting is...

I just don't know. Am I to become a mental invalid, one foot in the grave?

OK, so what can I do to help?

I came to you to get some pills,

so that I could work.

Naturally, you'll get pills but you're aware that

- they are half measures. - I am.

- So what? - This is my choice,

my life, I came to you only to...

I want to live the way I want to.

And die while I'm on the move.

It's all very well but you have a family, don't you?

You're not alone.

You always destroy the specimens in critical moments.

Could you not make fun of me right now?