"Matka krolow" calls to mind Wajda's "Man of Marble" in that it incriminates the communist system of government only in an earlier period beginning in pre-war Poland and continuing to just after Stalin's death. The absurdity of official propaganda is made obvious and the nastiness of officials in a power play of who is in and out of favor, the Stalin period games within the ruling mob, which is deadly to at least one of the Krol brothers, is a major part of the story. The mother works and suffers hard through it all with head raised high. She is a survivor like Solzhenitsyn's Matriona ("Matriona's House"). Politics is beyond her. Family and friends is what matters even though one of her sons and and long time friend fail her in the end.
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