ALL WILL BE WELL

It’s the summer holidays and Paulie is training hard for an athletics competition in Germany. The 11-year-old lives with his gravely ill mother and mentally handicapped brother in a village on Poland’s Baltic coast. Time seems to have ground to a halt in the small place with no jobs and little hope of change. The boy’s father died two years ago from alcohol-related causes, and the news that his mother has no prospect of recovery turns his life upside-down. Praying for a miracle, he starts walking to the shrine to the Virgin Mary in Częstochowa: his mother had always vowed she would go on this pilgrimage. Only a few kilometres down the road, he meets up with Andrzej, his sports teacher, who places all his ambition in training Paulie and otherwise seeks his salvation in alcohol. As self-elected “coach”, he decides to accompany the pilgrim and informs a TV crew, transforming the journey into a public event. The donations paid into a special account cover the cost of moving Paulie’s mother to a special clinic to prepare for an operation that might save her life. Paulie and Andrzej get to know each other better in the course of their pilgrimage, and build up a special friendship in which mutual reliance gives them a measure of stability.
ALL WILL BE WELL is a story of quiet hope and human warmth in a seemingly hopeless situation. At the same time, the fi lm offers some insight into the life of Poles left behind by the pace of social developments. Struggling with the difficulties of everyday life, they seek firm ground in a deep faith.